The art of gift giving in business
Gift giving was an important part of Chinese culture in the past. Today, official policy in Chinese business culture forbids giving gifts because this gesture can be considered bribery. Consequently, your gift may be declined. In many organizations, attitudes surrounding gifts are beginning to relax. In any case, you will have to approach giving gifts with discretion, as outlined in the following points. If you wish to give a gift to an individual, you must do it privately, in the context of friendship, not business.
Some general recommendations before you hand over your gifts to your Chinese business partners...
- All business negotiations should be concluded before gifts are exchanged.
- Specify that the gift is from the company you represent. If you can, explain the meaning of the gift to the receiver.
- Present the gift to the leader of the Chinese negotiating team.
- Do not get anything that is obviously expensive, so that the company will not feel obliged to reciprocate.
- Valuable gifts should be given to an individual only in private and strictly as a gesture of friendship.
- Make sure that the gifts given to people of the same level of importance are equitable or of similar grade.
- Do not wrap a gift before arriving in China, as it may be unwrapped in Customs.
- If possible, have your gifts wrapped in red paper, which is considered a lucky color. Plain red paper is one of the safe choices since a variety of meanings, many of which are negative, are attributed to colors in Chinese culture.
- Pink and gold and silver are also acceptable colors for gift wrap. Wrapping in yellow paper with black writing is a gift given only to the dead. Also, do check the variations from region to region about colors.
Source:chinese-school.netfirms.com
Photo:www.worldmarket.com
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