Chinese Greeting

The handshake is a very important custom in China. Probably more important than in many other countries, so you will find it very useful to know the basics.

First you need to know who initiates the shake. Who puts their hand out first?

If you are a visitor or guest in China you will find that your host always shows his or her welcome by shaking hands with you immediately upon meeting.

This situation is reversed when leaving. Then the guest should be the one to offer their hand first.

There is also a strict order to follow with handshaking in all situations. Sometimes it might be difficult for the visitor to correctly assess the situation. For example one of the rules is that you should shake hands with a superior person before an inferior person. How to tell a so-called superior person from a so-called inferior person will not always be apparent.

Generally speaking, the person who should begin the handshake should be:

the elder,
the senior,
the teacher (compared with the students),
the female,
the married (compared with the unmarried),
the superior in official standing or business position

If you have to shake hands with more than one person, you should shake hands in succession with the senior and superior to the junior and inferior, from the nearest to the furthest.

The way you shake hands will also demonstrate your knowledge of Chinese greeting customs and protocol.

The perfect handshake in China is not too long or short. Aim for a few seconds long. Thirty seconds would be considered an overly enthusiastic length of time for a handshake unless it was genuinely called for.

Also the handshake should be light and simple and not overly vigorous. Make sure you have good eye contact, are smiling and friendly and attentive.

It is considered bad form to do any of the following:

a. Shake hands absentmindedly.
b. Shake hands with your left hand.
c. Shake hands while wearing a hat, gloves or sunglasses.
d. Shake hands crossways.
e. Keep your other hand in your pocket.
f. Shake hands while seated, unless disabled.
g. Refuse to shake hands with others.

Finally there is always the exception when someone, no matter whether he or she is entitled to or not, offers their hand before you. Even if this is a protocol breach it is courteous to give an unreserved response.

Meeting new people in foreign lands can be daunting. Whether you are the visitor or the visited it is natural to feel shy or hesitant about communicating with different people. One of the best ways to bridge the gap is to be able to introduce yourself in the other person's language. This immediately creates more feelings of friendliness and ability to relate.

Here are a few tips on how to introduce yourself.

In an informal situation it is customary to give your full name and a simple greeting like Ni Hao.

You could say for example "Ni Hao, Wo Jiao ...", which translates as "Hello (or Hi), I'm..."

Or you could say "Ni Hao. Wo De Ming Zi Shi..." What that means is "Hello/Hi. My name is..."

In a business situation it is considered polite to give your full name as well as your position and the name of the company you work for.

It can all sound very serious and difficult but there is an fast way to learn Chinese cultural and language protocols in an easy fun way. Visit for Chinese greeting,language, customs and culture, customer reviews and more.

Zai Jain (Zay je-an) are the words but how the heck do you say them?

There are two helpful things to remember when learning to pronounce words in Mandarin Chinese. These two things will also help you realize that learning Chinese greeting phrases and more conversational Chinese is not as hard as you think.

So what are these two things?

1) Mandarin Chinese, which is the most commonly spoken and taught Chinese dialect, is a tonal language. It's the tone of how you say the words which gives them meaning. Mandarin Chinese is the simplest dialect. You only need to learn four tones and you will easily be able to say and understand hundreds of words.

2) Mandarin Chinese has only four hundred basic syllables to learn. How many syllables do you think you know in English? Thousands and thousands, that's how many. In fact there are so many syllables in English that no-one has ever managed to count them.

So how do you say goodbye?

This next video should help.