Hearing a report on the radio recently, it seems that gifts from foreigners to Chinese are not the only headache! Chinese themselves are suffering from gift fatigue as expectations are very high for gift-giving these days. Not only that, it is expected that all western festivals be observed too. So, for example, Christmas has become a gift-giving frenzy, closely followed by Chinese New Year – more gifts and banquets! No sooner has that finished than Valentine’s Day arrives (and there are two of them, it seems – one for China and a different one in Australia) – and so it goes on. Young people in China especially are being pressured to observe all such festivals and to come up with expensive gifts for all their friends and family. They also have to conform with Chinese standards – no unlucky gifts or numbers (like 4). When a marriage takes place, the demands for cash in big denominations is preferred. No wonder we hear of armoured trucks being used to cart away the loot!
We’d love to hear your gift tales – what worked and what didn’t work.