Public Behavior and Gift Giving in China

The Importance of the Etiquette

Public etiquette and gift giving are very important in China. The Chinese are a cooperative people and often closely associate themselves with a group. This group can be their family, school, work group, or country. To keep this sense of group unity, the population is known for having very good manners at all times. The population tends to avoid any action that will cause someone else to be humiliated in any way. The Chinese are usually prepared to ignore their own opinions in order to help out the group they are associated with. Being quiet is also crucial in very structured meetings. It is extremely rare for someone to disagree with another publicly. They will, instead, stay quiet. If one were to speak up, it would cause both people involved to lose face.

Non-verbal communication is essential in China. They are very dependent on facial expression, tone of voice, and posture in order to try to read what the other person is thinking. A signal of a difference of opinion in China is frowning while someone is talking. Because of this, most Chinese have an emotionless appearance when communicating. Staring into another person’s eyes is also thought to be very impolite in this country.

Gift Giving

In China, gift giving occurs at Chinese New Year, weddings, births, and newly (because of marketing), birthdays. Business gift giving is also appropriate in China. The Chinese will almost always decline a gift three times before accepting. Within this country, a gift should always be wrapped. In spite of this, it is important to steer clear of plain black or white paper due to these being the colors of mourning. One should present gifts with two hands and stay away from giving gifts in fours. Four is considered an unlucky number in China. Eight is the luckiest number in this country, so giving eight of something is thought to bring luck to the receiver.

It is vital to avoid presenting a gift of value to one person in a group setting. This will most likely lead to humiliation and potential problems for the recipient. This is because of the firm policy in opposition to bribery in Chinese business culture.

Other Do’s and Don’ts

The Chinese population typically view physical contact to be unacceptable. This is especially evident when doing business. The only scenario that would be acceptable would be when a host is directing a guest somewhere. It is impolite to slap, pat, or put one’s arm around the shoulders of another in China.

It is considered rude to go to a wedding while in mourning. This occurs because it is believed to give bad luck to the couple that is getting married. It also might be outrageous for a pregnant woman to be present at a funeral. This is because of the idea that a funeral would cause danger to her baby.

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