"Gift Giving - The Chinese Way" by Asian Female

By -


Ah the holidays… the joy of racking your brain for good gift ideas and trying to come up with innovative ones year after year. Why do families always seem the hardest? I haven’t been a part of any non-Chinese family so I can’t really say that they seem to be the most difficult but it sure seems that way when I talk to other people. There are so many rules associated with gift giving in the Chinese culture: 

  1. avoid anything with the number four because it sounds like “death” 
  2. avoid gifts in the color white because it’s the color you wear at funerals 
  3. avoid clocks because it symbolizes their time to die 
  4. avoid odd numbers because they bring bad luck 
  5. avoid giving shoes because it means you want the person to leave you 
  6. avoid giving books because it sounds like “loss” 
  7. avoid giving umbrellas because it sounds like “separation” 
  8. avoid giving anything with sharp edges because it symbolizes severing relations 
  9. avoid giving gifts that would make it impossible for the recipient to reciprocate or else you would cause the person to lose face
As if that’s not enough, there’s also a rule that states the recipient must decline a gift offering two or three times before accepting. Can you say AI –YAH?!

Comments

J said…
You know a great website to help coordinate gift giving is elfster.com. You can create wishlists so that people can know what is you want and they choose what to get you. Kind of like a registry. It can also facilitate secret santas for groups.
December 10, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Muscle Building Diet for the Asian Male

By J -
Image
As a strength trainer with an Asian American background, I often get questions and comments from Asian dudes all over the world. A common theme that pops up among Asian lifters is the belief that their Asian genes are limiting their progress in their quest for a muscular physique. I always tell them this: don't let race or ethnicity be a limiting factor in your training goals or any goal. It does not matter if you are Asian or a skinny bastard or a woman. If your goal is to be bigger, faster, stronger, then you still travel the same road that everyone else travels to size and strength. I mean look at Tommy Kono . Here was a Japanese American who grew up in an internment camp, and he became arguably the greatest Olympic weightlifter the US offered to the world.  He was also a successful bodybuilder, winning the Mr. Universe title in 1955 and 1957.  He built a phenomenal physique in an era before steroids. He didn't let race or ethnicity be a limiting factor in his mind or on
Read more

Interview with Rick Lee

By J -
Image
Q: I'm an avid follower of your site and had a question, since I believe you are the most recent one to have done an interview /been in contact with Rick Lee. I was wondering: is he still actively keeping up with his website?  Also I was wondering if you ever heard of the podcast DVDASA hosted by David Choe ? I'm sure you know of him or can easily find out who he is, but I wanted to know how I can contact him. I think he'd make a great guest on the show especially, because of his Asian-Man website. I believe he was the first Asian male porn star. David Choe talks about it sometimes, but he mentions Keni Styles as the first, but Rick is.  I'd love for him to be able to get on the show, set the record straight and help continue changing perceptions of Asian males.  Sorry if this is sort of random. Anyways hope to hear from you soon Thanks! -J My Answer: Are you trying to contact David Choe or are you trying to contact Rick Lee or both?  I'm s
Read more

Strength Training for the Asian Lifter, Part II

By J -
Image
Since I keep getting inquiries on my previous article Strength and Bodybuilding for the Asian Lifter , I thought I'd write up a follow-up: I’m a bit of a bodybuilding purist. I normally don’t write my exercise articles from the angle of “develop the muscles that drive her wild in bed!” Men’s Fitness, however, interviewed me one time for an article titled Sculpting Her Five Favorite Body Parts. The interviewer picked my brain on how to develop muscles so that a woman, as she put it, “couldn't keep her hands off you.” When it comes down to it, Asian men want the same thing everybody else wants when they exercise: to look good naked! Women don’t give a crap how much you bench, but they will notice the tone in your arms when you’re wearing a T-shirt. A lot of Asian guys feel that their Asian genes are somehow holding them back when it comes to gaining muscle. But guess what? Whether or not it is true that Asian men have a harder time gaining muscle, most women don’t
Read more