Cultural tips

When you call on a Chinese friend's house, you can often hear them say things like "please come to my house for a visit when you have the time." and so on to show his friendship. However, that doesn't mean he is giving you a formal invitation.

In China, paying a visit to friends and colleague's homes are very casual. Generally speaking, there is no need to have a fixed time for the visit, and if you are going to visit other people, tell them in advance and you can go if the hosts are available. With the fast pace of modern life, as well as the rapid development of modern means of communication, visits by friends and families have dwindled. Actual visits have been replaced by cell phone messages, E-mails, and other communication methods. During the Spring Festival in 2008, the number of China's New Year greeting text messages reached to 15 billion.