People who are new to China might feel confused on the Winter Solstice. Nearly all the big and small dumpling (jiaozi) restaurants are severely overflowing with customers. Even the Chinese friends who choose not to dine out will most likely order a dumpling delivery. That’s because, rumor has it, if you’re not eating dumplings on the Winter Solstice, your ears will be bitten off by the freezing cold wind.“Any hot water?” This is one of the most frequently asked questions in China’s restaurants. Chinese people are used to drinking hot water, and many prefer the water to be burning hot. This is because they believe hot water can cure ailments and prevent disease.. What follows “Ganbei” (Cheers) and glass clinking in China is people drinking up the alcohol in their glasses, instead of just taking a gentle sip. If you don’t drink up your wine, you might be regarded as impolite in China.
Chinese people tend to hand business cards or name cards to others with both hands. It is actually a Chinese courtesy to show respect to others, Chinese people usually wear (or are forced by their mothers to wear) red underwear on Ben Ming Nian (Zodiac Year of Birth), which is the current year in a cycle of 12 zodiac years.It is believed that wearing red underwear during the whole year may prevent misfortunes from befalling them in the year to come
It’s important not to give a clock to a Chinese person as a gift. This is because the phrase “giving clock” in Chinese – “Song Zhong” is a homophone to which means “looking after a dying person” or “burying a person.”International community gardeners will weep when they see China’s cities. No matter where you look, be it an ordinary residential compound, an apartment balcony, along a roadside, or even in a small circle of fertile land, you’ll see vegetables spontaneously growing that were planted by common citizens. Even the Chinese themselves joke that “planting trees is in their DNA.”
The Chinese are very superstitious people leading a traditional way of life. Despite the technological progress, a large part of the population observes traditions and customs, which extend back over three thousand years. However, this fact attracts millions of tourists from all over the world to China. There, you can not only do the unique historical monuments of ancient Chinese civilization, but also plunge into the mysterious and sometimes closed world of the Chinese East.
