General Etiquette

in China  The Forbid-

Do not overreact when a
den City
local asks personal questions.
and the
Keep calm when dealing with gov- Imperial
ernment officials and void making sit-
uations unnecessarily tense.
Palace,
Beijing
Never write in red ink. Red ink
is a symbol of protest or criticism.  Chengdu
Research
Punctuality is considered a virtue
in China (despite the fact that Chi- Base of Gi-
nese people are. ant Panda
Avoid public displays of affec- Breeding
tion. Even though public displays
of affection in China are not as ta-
boo as they used to be, it’s still
wise to avoid them.  Leshan
Giant
Buddha

China (Chinese: 中国; pinyin:

Zhōngguó; lit. "Middle King-
Great Wall of China  Zhangjiajie dom"), officially the People's Re-
was constructed from the National public of China (PRC), is a coun-
try in East Asia and the world's
7th Century BC by the Chu Forest most populous country, with a
State and lasted until 1878 in the population of around 1.404 bil-
Qing Dynasty. Park lion.
Do
 Do greet others by using a handshake or a nod.
Bows are best saved for your visit to Japan or Korea.
 Do address seniority by an honorific title (family rela-
tionship or e.g. 'teacher': laoshi) or by the family name
plus Mr. (xiansheng), Ms. (nvshi).
Do address the eldest or most senior person first. This
is done as a sign of respect to those in a more senior posi-
tion.
Don’t
 Don’t offer too firm of a handshake. A firm handshake
could be construed as a sign of aggression.
 Don’t go straight for a hug. Especially when meeting
someone for the first time. Any body contact, apart from
a simple handshake, may make your new Chinese The grandest and most popular festi-
friends feel uncomfortable.
Don’t address elders using ‘ni hao’ (/nee haow/). Instead, vals are the Chinese New Year (Spring
use ‘Nin hao’ (/neen-haow/ ‘you good’). This is more polite,
formal and respectful.
Festival), the Lantern Festival, the
Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat
Festival, the Mid-autumn Festival, etc.

Mandarin
Mahal kita in Filipino
In Traditional Chinese weddings, the cere-
mony is only a very small element of the wedding
day. Vows are exchanged at a local goverrnent office
as the paperwork is signed and then the couple attend
an intimate ceremony, where they stand at the family
altar and pay their respects to nature, family ances-
tors, and deities.
Chow Mein
The "Chow mein" (炒面) is the Cantonese pronun-
ciation of the Chinese characters above, which
means stir-fried noodles. Generally speaking, this
stir-fried dish consists of noodles, meat (usually
chicken, beef, shrimp, or pork), onions and celery.
The government formally recognizes
five religions: Buddhism, Taoism,
Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam
(though the Chinese Catholic Church
is independent of the Catholic Church
in Rome).