The common Chinese greeting of "Ni chi le ma?" may soon be replaced(代替) by a new greeting: “Have you cleaned your plate?”

    The Clean Your Plate Campaign began on the Internet in January, 2013. It calls on people to reduce food waste. China in recent years has experienced serious problems with wasted food. CCTV reported in January that the food Chinese people waste every year is enough to feed 200 million people for a year.

    Chinese people are well-known for their friendly behavior towards guests. Many even feel that they lose face if their guests have eaten all the food.

    It's important for everyone to reduce food waste. However, wasting food is still a serious problem in China. We still have a long way to go.

    President Xi Jinping is encouraging people to be less wasteful, and he told Party members to cut back on wasteful holiday banquets(宴会). He said they should be more careful when spending the people's money.

    Wasting food certainly goes against what Xi Jinping calls, "the Chinese tradition of being hardworking and thrifty(节俭). “Having a” clean plate" is just a traditional and important thing to do.

    Have you cleaned your plate?