When doing business with China, it is of the utmost importance to give gifts.
However, it is crucial to know that not every present is appropriate. Chinese culture is drenched in symbolism.
Gifts should be handed over with both hands, and wrapped in lucky colours. You can’t go wrong with red and gold.
Sharp objects such as knives should be avoided. Chinese people believe that when one is offered a knife, the giver signals that he wants to end the relationship. Knives cut ties.
Once upon a time, a well-meaning – but ill-informed – Finnish company gave their Chinese business partners a set of their country’s famous high-quality Marttiini knives. Unbeknown to them, this was very awkward for the Chinese. First of all, Chinese people don’t want to lose face and will, at all times, make sure you don’t lose face either. So they silently accepted the knives but interpreted it as the end of their business relationship.
Clocks and watches shouldn’t be given either. This is because the pronunciation of ‘to give a clock’ sounds exactly the same as ‘to attend a funeral’. You can imagine that more than one Swiss company made the mistake by treating their Chinese business partners to a sublime watch. Here again, although they meant well, the business relationship went downhill.
As Saint Patrick’s Day is nearing, I would like to warn you about the taboo gift of a green hat. Never give a green hat, cap or anything green to put on your head. Why? As legend goes, it means your wife is cheating on you. In the past, when a woman had a lover and she knew her husband would be gone for a while, she would invite her lover over during his absence. In order to make sure she could see her husband approaching from afar, she gave him a green hat which was easy to spot.
An American company, proudly brought boxes full of baseball caps for all the Chinese workers. You guessed it: green baseball caps. Fortunately, there was one woman who had the good sense to take the American donator aside for a brief private conversation and told him why no-one seemed thrilled about the gift. That saved the day. They collected the caps and took them back home.
So hopefully, Irish companies won’t be inclined to offer big green hats to their Chinese business partners.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!