Chinese Gift Exchange Customs (part 1)

Do (Know)

• Red and pink are colors for give gift in Asia's culture.
• The most common gifts you can get are home appliances such as TV, DVD, or kitchen stuffs.
• The best common gift is book (illustrated book).
• For Chinese's children, action figures are the best gifts.
• Foods and vitamins can be excellent gifts.

Don't

• Color need to stay away is white.
• Flower should not give away carelessly. The Chinese people only give flower when there is a funeral.
• Don't give Anti-Communist book. It's just common sense.

Important of color...

If you are same as I am, then buying gift alone is already a problem. But, when buying gift to the Chinese people, it is more complicated. This is very important to know who to buy for because buying gifts for business partner is different from buying gift for your family and friend.

That is the reason why I will divide the gift section into three small sections: one part for business and the others for family. This section, I will start with gift for family and friend.

I will start with color. The only rule you need to know that if you can stay as close to color of pink and red, then you be fine and Chinese people will love you for it. In Chinese's culture, these colors mean lucky and happiness.

Sometime when you are arriving to a banquet, you will see the senior peoples will wear tradition clothes with a touch of red on their shirt, which means they are happy to be a part of the event and also happy that you are here.

The color you need to stay away is white. In Chinese's culture, white consider the color for funeral. If you ever get invite to a person's home, please, never bring white flower. Better yet, also stay away from flowers. Sometime you can get away with flower when the family is modernized not traditional. Please, keep that thought in mind.

Um... What to buy?

The best gift to give I consider so far will be book, especially illustrated books. Book is the best gift for adult and children.

You can never go wrong with book but there is one exception. If you give the Chinese people Anti-Communist books, you kind of bring trouble upon yourself. Better yet, you might as well check yourself into prison.

For the little ones in the family, they really like action figures such as Batman, Superman, or Spiderman.

Also, food can be a very good gift such as fruits, chocolate, or import liquor. If you know there is an older person in the family, you may consider vitamins as a gift.

>>> Continue to Chinese Gift Exchange (part 2)
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