Greetings And Meeting Etiquette Analysis

Greetings and Meetings Etiquette

In China, a firm hand shake with the words “Ni Hao” (which translates to ‘Hello’) is the most appropriate and common business greeting. Males can emphasise on the greeting by using a double-hand shake, which is to place his left hand over the person’s right. However, females are not advised to do so as it can be misinterpreted to be overbearing or even forceful.

The guest should also not take a seat immediately in an office or meeting room. Instead, he should always wait for gestures from the host, indicating for him to be seated, or wait for the host to show him to his seat. It is impolite to do otherwise.

There are also ways in which one should address a person, and that is to use Professor, Dr, Mr or

The concept of ‘face’ aroused because of the culture that has valued social harmony and generally avoided criticism that made the Chinese more sensitive. ‘Face’ has since played a vital part in the Chinese business and hence, it is critical to give face, save face and show face when doing business in China.

There are 3 aspects that form the concept of ‘Face’ – ‘giving face’, ‘saving face’ and ‘losing face’. ‘Giving face’ basically means to show respect to someone and to do things that increase self-pride. ‘Saving face’ is to avoid humiliation or embarrassment. Lastly, ‘losing face’ is to be disgraced in public. If a business partner ‘loses face’ through embarrassment or insult, even if it is not deliberate, it can be upsetting for the business relationship. Therefore co-workers would often avoid criticising, challenging and disagreeing with their superiors in public so as to give “face” to them.

My student buddy in Wuhan who is currently interning at a company, faced such an incident of the concept of ‘Face’ recently. During a meeting, her supervisor gave incorrect information to all the staff. However, she did not correct her supervisor immediately, but spoke to him privately after the meeting

Despite the fact that the government had imposed a ‘Queuing Day’ on the 11th of each month a few years ago, there has been no difference to the behaviour of the citizens. Many articles on China absurd queue-cutting culture can still be found online, where many angry netizens rage about the incidents they have encountered in amusement parks, public transport and even public toilets.

An observation made during the trip was that commuters often shove people aside just to get in or out of the train cabin. It did not matter that there was originally a queue before the train arrived. As once it did, the commuters just rushed forward. This is further supported by an article written by James Reynold on ‘Queueing Day’, where he mentioned that even though the commuters line up before the train arrived, the queue collapsed immediately after the doors open.

Smoking

Smoking is a deeply-rooted tradition in China, and it is also the reason why China is the world’s leading tobacco consumer. Another reason is also because cigarette prices are relatively cheap where a pack of Marlboro cigarettes costs only $2.47 USD. Unlike Singapore, smoking in public indoor places like hospitals, public transport and schools is also allowed, which encourages consumers to smoke more in their free