East Asia with a Focus on China

 In East Asia, especially China, the people rely on oral and visual forms of greeting.  In China and Japan, when a person greets another, one does a slight bow from the waist, sometimes just from the head.  More commonly followed in Japan, rank determines bow.  If you are of a lower rank than another, your bow is lower and vice versa.  In China, the bow is still used as a traditional reference.  

To further understand the greetings of East Asia, I talked with one of my former professors who currently runs the International Education office at my college.  For his degree, he studied East Asia, specifically China.  In addition, he lived for two and a half years in mainland China and two and a half years in Taiwan.

When you are greeting for someone for the first time in China, you start with a complete and firm handshake.  You exchange business cards with that person and you present it with both hands.  In return, that person must accept the business card with two hands and must not put the card away in your presence.  Throughout this whole exchange, eye contact is crucial.  In China, status matters and you address someone with their full formal title.  For example: Harvard College Professor Miller.  It is often better to stick with a handshake then to hug a person of the opposite gender unless you have a close personal relationship.

Personal relationships are key when greeting in China.  The duration of the relationship determines the level of intimacy.  If you know someone well, you  give a handshake or a hug.  The Chinese are very conscious of age and often put a sibling reference such as "little" and "elder" followed by their last name.

According to my professor, intimacy and personal space is even more valued in China than in the United States.  For him, he found it had to adjust to the intimacy of Chinese culture.