Don’t Give These 10 Things to Your Chinese Family
Gifting is an art, if not a minefield, in Chinese culture, what with its myriad of superstitions and customs. But not anymore: As long as you stay away from our list of don’t-evers, you’ll be safe from embarrassment the next time you swing by a Chinese household.
1. Clocks
This one tops our chart because of its notoriety in the Chinese speaking world. The action of giving a clock happens to be the homophone, in both Cantonese and Putonghua, of song zung (literally “gift the end”), which means taking care of or ultimately burying a dying relative. This taboo resulted in a small diplomatic crisis in Britain last year, when Baroness Kramer, Minister of State for Transport, gave the mayor of Taipei a pocket watch as a token of friendship. The mayor then responded that he might re-gift it to someone else, or worse, sell it to a scrap metal dealer. Guess he didn’t like the gift.
2. Pears
If you think you can never go wrong with a good old fruit basket, think again. The Cantonese pronunciation of pears sounds the same as lei, which means leaving. Sharing a pear—fan lei—with your loved one is also a no-no as it sounds the same as the phrase “to separate” in Chinese.
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3. Shoes
A sassy pair of leather loafers sounds like the best Father’s Day present? Bad idea if daddy’s a traditional Chinese. This is because “shoe”, pronounced xié in Putonghua, is a homophone of “evil”, so giving people shoes would mean passing on bad luck; while in Cantonese, the pronunciation of "shoes"—haai—resembles a frustrated sigh. In addition to that, giving people shoes also bears the connotation of making them walk away from you.
4. Umbrellas
Umbrella—saan—is the homophone of “separation” in Cantonese. The receiver might take a cue from that and stop keeping in touch afterwards. Definitely not the best gift for an anniversary or Valentine’s.
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