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Q: Do you yell, ''Fu wu yuan'', or just wait?
When i say this i sound like I have marbles in my mouth, so i just waive if I catch their eye or wait.
What about you?
I call out
however I try to do it with a polite tone
after all they are handling the food I am going to eat 
99Silva:
How can you call this out if you aren't even in China? Plus, didn't you say you are in Australia and that you've never came to China before? It's mind boggling!
TedDBayer:
Do you think the North Koreans would take matty if we took up a collection? We could all send coats and flashlights to sweeten the deal.
crimochina:
sb needs to go back to school and brush up on their reading comprehension. chinese english teachers truly suck.
philbravery:
is that to counter the fact it is a few grains short in the bag?
I might yell fu Wu yuan....never fu Yu yuan :P But I do usually try to make some eye contact first, to reduce the need for screaming out 服务员.
I usually call out "Oi" and hope it doesn't mean something inappropriate in Chinese.
GuilinRaf:
I think it means something like "your grandfathers' third cousin twice removed slept with an antelope...."
TedDBayer:
Hasn't everybody?, its not bad, just don't do the butting head thing, your hangover will be bad enough,
Yes，usually I make it known somehow that I need help and then say 'fu wu yuan' as politely as I am able to, without yelling above all the noise.
I enjoy shouting it out from time to time. Here in Shenyang it's more like Fu Wu YAARR! Gotta love the Dongbei dialect!
I don't like saying that. I did say it once in a funny tone and the waitress looked at me all googly-eyed. I just wait and wave them over! (
!
I play with my phone until my girlfriend calls it out.. Same thing with mai dan. All just because I'm a lazy bastard.
I used to wait until they made eye contact and raised my hand, but I stopped doing it because they hardly ever give attention to customers and I started feeling hungry
This is one of my biggest dilemmas in China. In most busy restaurants you have to shout to get any service, and depressingly it seems the only way to get what you want is be a pushy a**hole (though can be said for many levels of society in China).
Anyway, I'm incredibly British about this and sit there hopelessly with my arm half up in the air and trying to catch their eye-contact. I almost always end up getting my food last, and the strangest thing is the waiters/waitresses always seem incredibly bemused at my patience/politeness and even laugh at me. Crazy!
I'm so handsome, I can't get the waitress to STOP looking at me. Which makes girlfriend angry.
I don't hear anyone yell this out in Guangzhou, we usually say the common Cantonese saying "Mmm goi" to get their attention here, or wave our arms frantically.
As much as I would love not to have to do this, it's almost impossible to avoid it. Unless you prefer to just sit there with an empty table and have people flow around you with no sense that you are there to eat/drink.
I've called it out on occasion in a soft tone. (Never loud or obnoxious.) If it doesn't work, I just get up, go over to the server, ask them for the bill, and return to my table. Takes about 20 seconds and it works. Simple, eh?
Funny waitress story:
When I first came to China, I lived in Guangzhou. Nobody there uses "Fu yu yuan". They all say, "Shao jie" (little sister). After a couple years of that, I got used to saying it as well. Then I moved up North.
The first time I went out to dinner was with a expat friend and his Chinese wife. I saw the waitress and called out, "Shao jie". My friends wife gave me a shocked look and the waitress just looked pissed. My friend was just laughing.
I said, "What?" Then my friend, who travels to Southern China a lot, informed me that in Northern China, calling someone "Shao jie" is basically calling them a prostitute. Whoops.
I just play the drums-instrumental part of Hogans Hero's with my chopsticks and dirty plates....
