Meeting and Greeting Greetings are formal and the oldest person in a group is always greeted first. Handshakes are the most common form of greeting with foreigners. Many Taiwanese look towards the ground as a sign of respect when greeting someone. You need not follow their example as they understand that westerners tend to smile warmly when introduced. Most greetings include the rhetorical question, "Have you eaten?" The Chinese traditionally have 3 names. The surname, or family name is first and is followed by one or two personal names. Chinese women do not change their names when they marry other Chinese, and the children's last name will generally follow that of the father. Often their personal names have some poetic or otherwise significant meaning, so asking about the meaning is a good way to break the ice. When you are first meeting a person, address the person by their academic, professional, or honorific title and their surname. If those you are meeting want to move to a first name basis, they will advise you which name to use. Some Chinese adopt more western names in business and may ask you to call them by that name. Gift Giving Etiquette Gifts are given at Chinese New Year, weddings, births and funerals. The Taiwanese like food and a nice food basket or a bottle of good quality alcohol are gifts. A gift may be refused the first time it is offered out of politeness. Attempt to offer the gift again; however, never force the issue. Do not give scissors, knives or other cutting utensils as they traditionally indicate that you want to sever the relationship. Do not give clocks, handkerchiefs or straw sandals as they are associated with funerals and death. Do not give white flowers or chrysanthemums as they signify death. Do not wrap gifts in white, blue or black paper. Red, pink and yellow are considered to be auspicious colours. Elaborate gift wrapping is imperative. Do not give an odd number of gifts, since odd numbers are considered unlucky. Four is also an unlucky number. Do not give four of anything. Eight is the luckiest number. Giving eight of something brings luck to the recipient. Avoid giving anything made in Taiwan. Present gifts using both hands. Gifts are not opened when received. Gifts are generally reciprocated. Do not give a lavish gift unless it is to reciprocate an expensive gift that you have received. And so on.... We need your opinion. Please answer in detail. Thank you.^.^
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Nice list. I didn't even know some of those, and I have been out here for years. It seems an accurate description of Taiwanese customs--- in the 1970's. The 'avoiding giving anything made in Taiwan' one rings up as a bit of a dated idea, I think. Most Taiwanese now take pride in the high quality standards that they have in technological and agricultural products. This attitude has notably changed over the past 10 years, as the low quality slave users industries move onwards to Vietnam, China and Myanmar to use and abuse the local talents there. They tend to dislike getting anything made in China and prefer made in Japan or USA products above their own countries products except for tech and food. Then they take great pride in those. Perhaps you mean, avoid giving plastic McDonald's toys (now made in China). I picked your list is a bit old fashioned from the 1980's to tell the truth because of that particular one. The real change in Taiwan is that superstitions and illogic are being superceded by: TRUTHS that WORK. Cultural beliefs in lies that keep people docile and immobile are being replaced by an open dialog across the internet that many users in Taiwan (mostly those below 40) are finding and using to their own personal benefit. People are capable of some critical thought and are much less superstitious (but many suckers are still born every minute!!) I like the bits about politeness and reciprocating gifts and showing respect by using both hands, it is a habit I have adopted, along with saying Ai-Ya!! alot when I don't even think about it as most Taiwanese tend to do. AII YAAAA!!! That one is still a common courtesy thing. The bit about clocks, handkerchiefs and straw sandals doesn't ring true to me for current Taiwanese people, but then again I never really have tried buying such strange things for others. However, a common gift I have seen friends give friends is watches and electronic day-timers... so I don't feel it really is operational anymore. My wife's friends quite often have sandals made of straw for people to borrow at their homes. The formal greetings is really only at formal events, business meetings and the like. Real people don't do that very much, they ask if you have eaten yet, normally. Most of them don't know about handshakes with foreigners, they just say ni hao or ask if you have eaten. The vast majority of people I know are very relaxed and happy to say hello and try to practice some english if they can. Not many people look at the ground in 'respect'... they usually look you in the eyes, but look away or at the ground or at whatever is in their hands in the moment in a natural way (to me, anyways.) Most people who are used to foreigners act natural and ignore us. Most people who aren't familiar with foreigners act goofy and shout HELLWO! at top volume and laugh like silly little girls. (Which is sad for a grown man to do.) Many people wrap their gifts in white, blue, metallic black matte and hot pink hello kitty paper. In fact usually if it doesn't have some kind of Sanrio cartoon on it or TV cartoon or Sponge-bob on it, it seems to be a very formal occasion of some type. Four is still off limits. Don't **** with number four. Many buildings even avoid having the fourth floor listed on their elevators. They feel that changing mathematical rules and skipping to five is A-OK for them. Signing names in red ink is BAD VIBES. It reminds them of the KMT death lists back in the White Terror. If you want to piss off moms and dads write their kids poor results and lack of effort related comments in RED. A Passive-Aggressive tip from the master of passive aggression! People still avoid opening gifts after being given them. I think it is to conceal the look of disappointment on the face. "Oh no... mooncakes AGAIN! Now I have to give those to Grandma! I am sick of Red Bean and Green Tea flavored CRAP, I wanted Baskin Robbins/Cold Stone gift certificates!!!" Many people pretend to like Green Tea and Red Bean flavored anything. But many really actually never finish it when given it. They just do it because it's expected of them as a polite Taiwanese. I know I staple on a big happy grin when I get it, then toss it in the dumpster at home, because the street dogs wont even touch that flavor. Yick! The names related thing is interesting, usually they like to ask about it and tell little stories about how awesome and interesting each character in the name's meaning is. When people don't like their name, they go and change it to something else. I notice people like to have weird english names a lot. Nobody wants normal names, they all must be special, which is OK, because probably everyone is Shu-Zen Wong or Chen or Zhang or Fei, it does get boring having 6 other people with the same name in your class your whole life! (I should know, my name is Matt!)
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