Note: Can of worms, not a perfect gift.
Photo: brandautopsy.com

Trying to shoulder your way into the fray of Chinese gift-giving culture is hard for many expats.  And when the time comes to bringing mementos from back home, it gets even harder. In China, your relative social standing matters—if you're living large and rely on your friends or business partners to keep you in money and lucrative contracts, then your gifts should strengthen those ties. If you're an English teacher with the world's cutest group of students, maybe you want to reward the kids for good behaviour with something exotic from abroad.

Unless you come from a tourist Mecca where gift shops are as plentiful as tour busses, it might be hard to figure out what kind of souvenirs represent the place you're from. On top of that, even if you are from Las Vegas, Rome, Sydney or somewhere else where touristy keepsakes are found by the bucketful, you have to make sure that that neat-O item that you just picked up in the gift shop is not actually manufactured in China after all. Packing back made-in-China items won't impress anyone. 

The best gifts from home can be divided into these categories:

1) Luxury
These will probably be the most appreciated gifts. Giving gifts in China is a lot about giving and receiving face. Nothing does that better than an expensive gift. The more expensive and/or luxurious that item is said to be, the more face it represents.

Luckily, some things that are considered luxury items in China are actually cheaper abroad. One example is jeans. Original Levis jeans are quite expensive in China but can be relatively cheap in the USA. They're practical too— I brought a Chinese friend a pair of 501s back home five years ago and she still wears them. Famous/world brands of chocolates (think Godiva), handbags and liquors or cigarettes will also be snatched up with Golem-like avidity.

An important note: when offering luxury goods, be sure to include all original packaging—this will make sure to show them that you didn't just pick up a knock-off at a street-side market right here in China.

The problem with bringing luxury goods back as gifts is that it isn't a very personal gesture. And, unless you really are that "rich foreigner" of the stereotype, it can take quite the chunk out of your travel budget. 

2) Made in (insert country here)
Shoppers, beware of that insidious "Made in China" sticker. To really get people ooh-ing and ahh-ing, make sure that there's a prominent label (or hopefully, flags splashed on the packaging) that says that whatever you've gotten them is made somewhere other than the Middle Kingdom.

Wine can be a good gift, as are candies or treats iconic to your home country.  When buying food, however, keep Chinese taste buds in mind (our sweets may be too sweet for people who don't often partake of Western fare). Reindeer sausages from Finland, real Champagne from France, Canadian smoked salmon—edible regional specialties are often a safe good bet for gifts.

However, be sure to keep in mind the ‘who' as well as the ‘what' of what you're offering. Canadians bringing back bottles of maple syrup have often met blank stares from their Chinese counterparts. The reason? Chinese don't have a clue (or a North American pancake) what they're supposed to eat it with.

3) Practical
For a more personal touch, think about finding things your friends or colleagues could actually use. Are they studying English and need a good textbook? Do they love to drink coffee but can't find a good French press here?

Odds are, if you comb the web long enough you'll be able to purchase just about anything you want in China and get it delivered. But if you know there's something that a friend could really use, it is more heartfelt to go to the trouble of getting it for them abroad and bringing it back.

In this category, if you're looking for gifts for your female friends or colleagues, you might consider buying some skin creams, hand lotions or other cosmetics. Anything that has an "organic" or "100 percent natural" guarantee will probably be appreciated.

4) Homemade or handmade
A woman I met through the Couchsurfing.org travel group told me she always brought hand-knitted and crocheted dish towels to give when she was travelling through China. She said they were useful, colourful and her Chinese hosts always appreciated them.

A personal, framed greeting card, handmade jewellery from the artisan's fair in your hometown, carved wooden toys for kids—any of these will make a special gift for your Chinese host, friend or acquaintance.

Know, however, that some people will think that if you made a gift yourself, you're just being too cheap to spend money to give them something. Consider the recipients before taking this route.

Finding the right balance

To summarise, when you're making a list of gifts to bring back from abroad to give to your Chinese guanxi network, think either a) expensive, or b) unique. Even when bringing stuff from these categories, it's still hard to find the right balance between something great and something that your intended recipient will actually like.

Either way, the gift should be something that they can "brag about" to their friends or, if they really don't want to use the item (or maybe if it's "too nice to keep") be able to re-gift to another friend to help them garner some more face of their own.
 

Related links
Making (and Keeping) Chinese Friends
Cross Cultural Communication in China – Yes, No, and Maybe
The Chinese Business Dinner: Tips for Hosts and Guests

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