Good Gifts for Chinese Relatives
December 4, 2008 11:04 AM Subscribe
What are good gifts to bring to China, from the US, for Chinese in-laws who live there?
Apparently, it is quite difficult to find something in the US that is not manufactured and available in China.
I guess this boils down to two possibly-non-overlapping categories of question:
1) what sort of gifts do Chinese people like to receive?
2) is there anything that I could buy for them in the States that would be either unavailable or unaffordable in China?
Oh, and I should clarify that these gifts won't be holiday-related. Though we will be there on Jan. 1st, my understanding is that date doesn't merit anything special.
Apparently, it is quite difficult to find something in the US that is not manufactured and available in China.
I guess this boils down to two possibly-non-overlapping categories of question:
1) what sort of gifts do Chinese people like to receive?
2) is there anything that I could buy for them in the States that would be either unavailable or unaffordable in China?
Oh, and I should clarify that these gifts won't be holiday-related. Though we will be there on Jan. 1st, my understanding is that date doesn't merit anything special.
Oh, I don't know your inlaws, so I'm generalizing, but even people who don't smoke have a special pack for guests. Think Mad Men smoking rules, and add in a culture that appreciates gift giving.
posted by sleslie at 11:17 AM on December 4, 2008
posted by sleslie at 11:17 AM on December 4, 2008
Best answer: when i visited about a decade ago, i was told very specifically to *not* bring anything but the most cursory of host/ess gifts. apparently giving a gift has a snowball effect (at least in the south were i traveled), and required the receiver to give something back to the giver of greater value, which required the og (original giver) to reciprocate w/a bigger better gift, ad naseum. (recursive gifting, sort of.)
i took some barnum-bailey t-shirts that a friend in the circus had given me, some american magazines (in english), and a box of crayola crayons (made somewhere in ohio, i believe) w/a couple coloring books for the 9-year-old. i thought she was too old for coloring books, but she l-o-v-e-d them.
i had some trepidation about giving the t-shirts & magazines, but either my gracious host family was populated w/great actors, or they really liked the gifts.
posted by msconduct at 11:18 AM on December 4, 2008
i took some barnum-bailey t-shirts that a friend in the circus had given me, some american magazines (in english), and a box of crayola crayons (made somewhere in ohio, i believe) w/a couple coloring books for the 9-year-old. i thought she was too old for coloring books, but she l-o-v-e-d them.
i had some trepidation about giving the t-shirts & magazines, but either my gracious host family was populated w/great actors, or they really liked the gifts.
posted by msconduct at 11:18 AM on December 4, 2008
Best answer: Genuine Wisconsin Ginseng is popular with my older in-laws (parents-in-law), who are also big on "Made in USA" vitamins. For the siblings-in-law, we bring age-appropriate books (in English) for their kids, and locally made clothes, cosmetics or made in USA knick-nacks for them. We usually have one suitcase, carefully weighed, with nothing but gifts (mostly ginseng and vitamins by weight) in it.
posted by doorsnake at 11:36 AM on December 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by doorsnake at 11:36 AM on December 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
Seconding the multivitamins. I was surprised to hear this when my chinese-american relatives suggested it, but it's true.
I'd also suggest red wine - it's generally either unreasonably expensive or of poor quality over there, and it's become more popular recently as both a luxury and health item.
posted by balberth at 11:43 AM on December 4, 2008
I'd also suggest red wine - it's generally either unreasonably expensive or of poor quality over there, and it's become more popular recently as both a luxury and health item.
posted by balberth at 11:43 AM on December 4, 2008
Response by poster: msconduct: Counter-intuitive! I'm traveling to the North; I'll have to ask around to see if the snowball effect occurs there as well.
Multivitamins, huh? Makes sense, I suppose. Maybe I'll get some of those gummi-bear vitamins, or would that be received as not healthful enough?
posted by breath at 11:54 AM on December 4, 2008
Multivitamins, huh? Makes sense, I suppose. Maybe I'll get some of those gummi-bear vitamins, or would that be received as not healthful enough?
posted by breath at 11:54 AM on December 4, 2008
I've heard the Costco-brand multivitamins are really popular. Seconding US-made items. Packaging that is display-worthy is good too.
posted by extramundane at 12:02 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by extramundane at 12:02 PM on December 4, 2008
Nthing the multivitamins. Whenever my cousin comes from Taiwan, he stocks up on vitamins & glucosamine supplements at Costco. I think he gets the regular kind; he and my other relatives tend not to care for sweet stuff like gummy bears. He also buys hand sanitizer sets from Bath & Body Works, Crocs, and Converses. However, I"m not sure how your in-laws would feel about a new pair of Chuck Taylors.
posted by cucumberfresh at 12:19 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by cucumberfresh at 12:19 PM on December 4, 2008
Jack Daniels
posted by Pollomacho at 1:09 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by Pollomacho at 1:09 PM on December 4, 2008
Response by poster: I guess I should add that I'm looking for gifts for people of all ages, including children.
posted by breath at 2:08 PM on December 4, 2008
posted by breath at 2:08 PM on December 4, 2008
For the multivitamins, get the Centrum ones at Costco. I just had some relatives visit and as soon as they stepped off the plane, they wanted to make a beeline to Costco to buy vitamins. The vitamin B, B complex, and glucosamine tablets are also popular.
They also seem to love those generic chocolate and peanut/almond clusters and Ferrero Rocher chocolates but that could just be my family.
In Taiwan, organic everything is popular now though I'm not sure what you could bring over.
Oh fruit-wise, persimmons are in season and the American persimmons in the US are much better, cost-wise, than the Japanese persimmons available in Taiwan/China. My relatives kept smelling them and ate a ton. Bring a box.
posted by junesix at 3:59 PM on December 4, 2008
They also seem to love those generic chocolate and peanut/almond clusters and Ferrero Rocher chocolates but that could just be my family.
In Taiwan, organic everything is popular now though I'm not sure what you could bring over.
Oh fruit-wise, persimmons are in season and the American persimmons in the US are much better, cost-wise, than the Japanese persimmons available in Taiwan/China. My relatives kept smelling them and ate a ton. Bring a box.
posted by junesix at 3:59 PM on December 4, 2008
I'm not trying to be crass, but some kind of nice milk product could be good right now. With the scandal all domestic milk products are suspect and imports are super expensive.
Up in the north (Manchurian North, not sure where you meant) they appreciate nice sausages as well.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:01 PM on December 4, 2008
Up in the north (Manchurian North, not sure where you meant) they appreciate nice sausages as well.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:01 PM on December 4, 2008
Response by poster: Here are some more ideas I got in person:
- hot chocolate mix
- Starbucks coffee
Makes no sense to me, but I imagine that the stuff I wanted from China (towel blankets, silk comforter, tailored formalwear) is equally inscrutable to the Chinese.
posted by breath at 4:29 PM on December 6, 2008
- hot chocolate mix
- Starbucks coffee
Makes no sense to me, but I imagine that the stuff I wanted from China (towel blankets, silk comforter, tailored formalwear) is equally inscrutable to the Chinese.
posted by breath at 4:29 PM on December 6, 2008
Response by poster: Thanks for the help everyone! We went and brought a crap-ton of vitamins, some egregiously touristy tchotchkes (carefully checked to ensure they were made in vietnam or malaysia instead of china, whew), and, um, chapstick. It worked out!
posted by breath at 7:42 PM on March 3, 2009
posted by breath at 7:42 PM on March 3, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sleslie at 11:13 AM on December 4, 2008 [1 favorite]