Celebrating Chinese New Year with Chinese friends can be great, but, because of the cultural gap(文化差异), it can be really easy to give the wrong gift for Chinese New Year. Here are five things you should not give as a Chinese New Year gift.
• Wallet—Loss of fortune In traditional Chinese culture, giving a wallet as a gift means giving away all your money and you might lose all your finances and luck. However, it is no problem to give a wallet to your family member who already shares your money.
• Handkerchiefs—Saying goodbye forever Handkerchiefs are a symbol of saying goodbye forever. Giving someone a gift like this meas you are saying goodbye forever.
• Umbrellas—Break up Umbrellas are a bad idea to give as gifts, because the Chinese word for "umbrella" sounds like the word for "breaking up". Giving somebody an umbrella may mean that you feel your relationship has broken.
• Sharp objects—Cut off relationship Giving anything sharp, such as a knife or scissors, is also a bad idea, because it means cutting off the relationship. A common Chinese saying "one cut and it is in two parts" means the end of a relationship between people.
• Shoes—Evil Shoes are a bad idea as a present for Chinese New Year because the Chinese word for "shoes" sounds exactly like a word for bad luck or "evil".
