![]() And I learned that's another thing you just don't do," Lopez said. "While I'm talking, I have the chopsticks in my hand, and I'm talking. So I ate everything on my plate, and I didn't realize until afterwards that that was offensive to the Chinese," Olympian Steven Lopez said.įinishing your meal in China implies the hosts did not serve you enough food.Īlso when dining, put down the chopsticks when you talk. These are some cultural faux pas that many Olympic athletes were trained on before they went to China. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.ĭid you know in China you should not wear a green hat if you are a man? And when you're done eating, never stick your chopsticks vertically in a bowl of rice. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. ![]() This homonymic pair works in Cantonese and Mandarin, with the avoidance especially common in Cantonese-speaking areas.This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. This bad luck does not apply to carrying or reading newspapers traditional Chinese: 帶報, 看報 simplified Chinese: 报纸 pinyin: bàozhǐ are not books. BooksĪs a book traditional Chinese: 書 simplified Chinese: 输 pinyin: shū in many areas, carrying or looking at a book traditional Chinese: 帶書, 看書 simplified Chinese: 带输, 看输 pinyin: dài shū, kàn shū. Cantonese has a more idiomatic term for umbrellas "ze1" in Cantonese, 遮 to avoid precisely this association. These homonymic pairs make in Mandarin and Cantonese. It is undesirable to administer someone a traditional Chinese: 傘 sound like the word "sǎn/sàn" 散, meaning to scatter, or to component company, to separate, to break up with someone, to split. However, should such a gift be given, the "unluckiness" of the gift can be countered by exacting a small monetary payment so the recipient is buying the clock and thereby counteracting the '送' "to gift" expression of the phrase. That being said, this taboo does non apply to smaller items such as watches, as they are non called " zhōng" in most parts of China, unlike clocks and large bells watches are commonly given as gifts in China. This homonymic pair workings in almost all varieties of Chinese, as the words for "clock" and "end" came to be pronounced identically very early in mainstream Chinese varieties, by around 11th century. Cantonese people consider such a gift as a curse. A UK government official Susan Kramer shown a watch to Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je unaware of such a taboo which resulted in some a grown-up engaged or qualified in a profession. Giving a clock 送鐘/送钟, sòng zhōng is often taboo, especially to the elderly as the term for this act is a homophone with the term for the act of attending another's funeral, "to send off for one's end" 送終/送终, sòngzhōng. Although these might be regarded as superstitions by people from other cultures, these customs are often tied to religious traditions and are an important factor of numerous people's belief systems, even among well-educated people and affluent sectors of society. However, most homonymic pairs listed construct only in some varieties of Chinese for example, Mandarin only or Cantonese only, as alive as maybewildering even to speakers of other varieties of Chinese.Ĭertain customs regarding service in addition to bad luck are important to many Chinese people. While originating in Greater China, they may also apply to Chinese-speaking people around the world. faux pas are derived from homonyms in Mandarin as well as Cantonese. Faux pas derived from Chinese pronunciation
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