The Rules for Gift Giving

      You should be careful in giving gifts. Never give a gift during a job interview or before a business meeting.  Gifts are usually given during special holidays, or on occasions to show thanks for special invitations.

2     When you arrive at a party, you may present your gift to the host once the introductions are made.    With gift giving, a few rules are in order:

3     Be modest with your gift; do not buy expensive gifts.

4    Gifts which do not last long, such as a special food from your country, a bottle of wine, candy and flowers, are best if you do not know the host very well.   But be sure that your gift does not require too much attention. Your host will be very busy, and you should not add another task to his or her evening. You can usually say something like, “I thought you would like this a little later” when you offer your gift.

5    Be careful in giving alcoholic drinks as a gift. A bottle of wine is usually all right if you know your host drinks wine, but hard liquor can be given as a gift only when you know the host well and are certain that he would welcome such a gift.

6    Flowers are good, but remember: roses are for personal relationships, so don’t give roses to the wrong people. Cut flowers are nice if they are in a vase.

7    A small cultural gift from your country is usually very good.   Paper-cuts and dyed paintings are among the good choices for Chinese to present to foreign people.

8  Finally, make certain your gift is wrapped nicely, with a nice card on it.    Lovely wrapping paper makes the gift nice to look at. And the card helps because the receiver may forget who has sent the gift if he or she has received too many at a time.