Gestures/Manners/Traditions
![Picture](/uploads/2/0/2/0/20203721/596170279.jpg)
The Chinese nod politely or bow slightly when greeting. A handshake is also acceptable, especially in formal situations or to show respect. Chinese do not like to be touched by people they do not know. However, if you are close friends of the same gender, you may sit or stand close or walk arm in arm. Its best to have respectful distance when you are associating with older people or those in crucial positions. Chinese do not concentrate on mindless conversations with nearly as much as Westerners do. Until recently, Chinese parents would conduct negotiations so they could choose marriage partners for their children. They would then go live with their husbands family where they were subject to the rule of their mother-in-law. Currently, because of the 1980 reforms, big parties have again become the custom. Most brides traditional wear red which symbolize joy. However some are following the western custom of wearing white, or they compromise with pink. It's a tradition for when a baby is born, to not name the child for at least a month. After the month is up, there is a big "one-month" party, celebrating the baby's survival of the most vulnerable time of its life.(Culture Grams)
Holidays
![Picture](/uploads/2/0/2/0/20203721/680858333.jpg)
Official public holidays in china are New Year's Day (1 Jan.), Labor Day (1 May), and National Day (1–2 Oct.). Other public holidays, that follow the lunar calendar, include ,the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid–autumn Festival, and Chinese New Year, Tomb-Sweeping Day, All at which students have extend vacations.
The most important holiday of the year is the Spring Festival. Banquets, family gatherings, carnivals, dragon dances, and fireworks all occur in celebration of this day. The Spring Festival begins on the first day of the first lunar month and it lasts for fifteen days. The first five days are the most significant, and so is the Lantern Festival, which occurs on the last of those fifteen days. On the day of the Lantern Festival, families are eating sweet rice dumpling in parks which are filled with games, performances, beautiful lanterns, and firework displays. On the Chinese New Year's Eve, families have a big dinner and children receive money in a red envelope.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, is held each year in early April. This day is to honor the death of their loved ones. Family and friends go to the cemeteries to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices of food and flowers to the dead. Some burn incense or paper money and bow before those tombstones. When you can't visit cemeteries, people usually burn some paper money at night just in the streets of their cities.
The Dragon Boat Festival is held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. This festival supposedly commenced to celebrate the death of Qu Yuan, who was a minister of the State of Chu and one of China's earliest poets. On this day people eat zong zi(pyramid-shaped, sticky rice dumplings wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves) and drinkxionghuang jiu (a kind of liquor believed to prevent illness). Dragon boat races are held mainly in the southern part of the country, guns are fired to start the race. Then the racers in dragon-shaped canoes move with oars speeding,harmoniously and hurriedly, towards a destination with the rapid beat of drums.
Other festivals are held throughout the year but are not public holidays. (culture grams)
The most important holiday of the year is the Spring Festival. Banquets, family gatherings, carnivals, dragon dances, and fireworks all occur in celebration of this day. The Spring Festival begins on the first day of the first lunar month and it lasts for fifteen days. The first five days are the most significant, and so is the Lantern Festival, which occurs on the last of those fifteen days. On the day of the Lantern Festival, families are eating sweet rice dumpling in parks which are filled with games, performances, beautiful lanterns, and firework displays. On the Chinese New Year's Eve, families have a big dinner and children receive money in a red envelope.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, is held each year in early April. This day is to honor the death of their loved ones. Family and friends go to the cemeteries to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices of food and flowers to the dead. Some burn incense or paper money and bow before those tombstones. When you can't visit cemeteries, people usually burn some paper money at night just in the streets of their cities.
The Dragon Boat Festival is held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. This festival supposedly commenced to celebrate the death of Qu Yuan, who was a minister of the State of Chu and one of China's earliest poets. On this day people eat zong zi(pyramid-shaped, sticky rice dumplings wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves) and drinkxionghuang jiu (a kind of liquor believed to prevent illness). Dragon boat races are held mainly in the southern part of the country, guns are fired to start the race. Then the racers in dragon-shaped canoes move with oars speeding,harmoniously and hurriedly, towards a destination with the rapid beat of drums.
Other festivals are held throughout the year but are not public holidays. (culture grams)