In Shaanxi, when people eat, they usually use large blue-and-white porcelain bowls, referred to by the locals as "old bowls." Because this kind of old bowl is even larger than a small basin, it follows that people deem the bowl to be indistinguishable from basin.

In the rural areas of the Central Shaanxi Plain, when it is time to have a meal, whether it is in spring, or summer, or fall, or winter, people of all ages will gather together at every house, each holding a large old bowl and chatting while eating. This is what is referred to as a strange sight in rural areas in the Central Shaanxi Plain that takes place when people come together to have a meal: the old bowl meeting.