Chinese Business Etiquette and Culture

Knowing business etiquettes in China is the first step to the success of your business. From our business Chinese lessons, we have summarized some of the most typical business etiquettes that you need to know!

Chinese Business Etiquette - Exchanging Greetings

In Chinese culture, if you want to show respect to a person, you may use "您 (nín)" instead of "你(nǐ)", even though both of them have the meaning “you”. For example, it is common to greet people with 您好 (nín hǎo) instead of 你好 (nǐ hǎo), which sounds less formal and polite.

Besides, when you meet your business partners, you are not supposed to call his or her name directly. In Chinese, we put one’s family name before 先生 (xiānshenɡ) to address a man, and before 女士 (nǚ shì) to address a lady. To ask one’s family name, you can use the sentence 您贵姓？(nín ɡuì xìnɡ？) which is a polite way of saying “What’s your family name？” To answer it, you can reply “我姓… (wǒ xìnɡ…)” – I am surnamed…

Chinese Business Etiquette - Dining Etiquette

Chinese business associates generally like to invite guests to dinner, which is a very common social practice in China. By and large, Chinese people like to talk things over dinner. Therefore, it is important to know the business culture and etiquettes on the table if you are doing business in China.

The etiquettes start when you are taking the seats! Usually, the elderly or people in a higher social position should take the main seats and less “important” should take seats next to it. And by main seats, we usually mean the seats facing the door. When dinner starts, you should not make noise while you are eating. In China, it is considered to be very disturbing and impolite to eat dinner with noise.

Drinking alcohol is almost a must in a Chinese business dinner. The phrase 干杯 (ɡān bēi), literally translated as “to dry the glass”, means you are expected to drink all in the glass in a gulp. However, in some situations, it may just mean a sip of your glass. If you don’t know how much you should drink, it is necessary to observe the people around you and do what they do.

Chinese Business Etiquette – Giving Gifts

Gifts should always be exchanged for first-time visiting, celebrations, or as thanks for assistance. China is a nation of “face”, so do not be too frugal with your choice of gift, otherwise you will be seen as an 'iron rooster', getting a good gift out of you is like getting a feather out of an iron rooster. Interestingly, in China, gifts are seen as debts that must be repaid. When you receive a gift, you should find an occasion to repay the gift.

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