Etiquette, face & unwritten rules
How to address people, gifts, toasts, polite refusals and not putting your foot in it.
8 subtopics · ~628 words
Chinese etiquette does not fit inside 'please'. 老师, 师傅, 贵姓, 不用了, 意思一下 and a 干杯 toast change a dinner more than any food adjective. This category covers face (面子), gifts, queues and number taboos. Use it once greetings are automatic; if 谢谢 still needs a translation, go back to greetings. Dialogue packs (host, first meeting) live on other leaves: this is the vocabulary those scenes assume. SRS in short batches: a social rule practiced wrong hurts more than a forgotten noun.
Face, gifts & guanxi
面子, 送礼 and 关系: the vocabulary of not humiliating someone and returning a favour.
53 words →
How to address people
老师, 师傅, 老板, 阿姨, 总: the right title beats a perfect hello.
67 words →
Banquet & drinking etiquette
Seating, 敬酒, 干杯 and how not to drink without breaking protocol.
44 words →
Polite refusal & hedging
不太方便, 再说吧, 考虑一下: saying no without slamming the door.
123 words →
Queues, photos & public space
排队, 让一下, 能不能拍照: the Chinese of not being the loud foreigner.
56 words →
Taboos & lucky numbers
4 vs 8, clocks as gifts, 忌讳 and the Chinese of not spoiling a celebration.
82 words →
Business card & first meeting
名片 with two hands, 请多指教 and the minute that decides whether 关系 starts.
63 words →
Hosting & being hosted
随便吃, 慢用, 添麻烦了: the polite theatre of a meal in someone else's home.
140 words →