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送禮學問多
最近，我和一位美國小伙兒吃了頓午飯。他剛到香港不久，是第一次赴海外工作。聘用他的金融機構非常周到地為他安排了一系列有關香港的情況介紹，包括一些文化背景、行為須知等等。小伙子對這些介紹興趣盎然，學習情緒十分高漲。
事有湊巧，小伙子第一次到香港是在2010年8月，正好和我初次到港是同一個月份，只不過我比他早來了36年而已。我倆的對談讓我想起自己學到的一些文化差異以及當時學到這些東西的場合。同樣，我也參加過由香港工商總會為初來乍到香港的人安排的情況介紹會，就在我剛到香港的第一個月。介紹會對我很有幫助，但從某種意義上來說，過去36年才是一場持續(xù)不斷的長期介紹會。因為，文化本身就富于變化，而在此期間，中國和香港又都經歷了翻天覆地的變化。
我的美國朋友得意地告訴我說，他已經知道在中國是不能給男人送綠帽子的，因為綠帽子寓意著老婆出軌。這一課對美國人是“必須的”，因為我們美國人對棒球和被我們稱之為棒球帽的東西情有獨鐘。很多棒球帽都印有運動隊的隊徽或者公司的標識，帽子的顏色之多，宛若霓虹。其中那些綠色的最好還是留在洛杉磯或者芝加哥吧，千萬不要送到上海去賣。
送禮要合時宜，在任何一種文化中，這都是一門藝術。而在不同文化之間送禮，學問就更加復雜了。
有一次，我送了一把瑞士軍刀給法國朋友當生日禮物，他馬上就給了我一塊錢，因為在法國（或是朋友所在的法國地區(qū)），人們認為收受刀具而不給錢是會交霉運的。從那以后，我再沒給人送過刀。
迷信是全世界普遍存在的現象，就連衣著考究、受過良好教育的商界精英也不例外。但令人驚訝的是，世界上很多不同地方的漁夫卻尊崇同樣一種迷信，就是忌諱把香蕉帶上船。頭一回趕上這種事兒是在搭朋友的汽艇釣魚時。當時，他是一家大航空公司的高級飛行教練，人非常好?？墒?，一旦遇到客人或者朋友在午餐盒里裝了香蕉上船，他就會一把抓過去丟進海里。香蕉是另一件可能會帶來霉運的東西。
所以，在某些場合、某些時刻，香蕉也該納入“禁送禮品”之列。
多年以前，歐洲某大型化學公司曾就其中國市場的推廣策略向我們公司進行咨詢，要求我們?yōu)樯a大批帶有該公司中文名稱及標識的筷子提供一份報價。“用途呢？”我們問。對方通過電傳答復說：當作禮品在即將舉辦的北京展覽會上派發(fā)給參觀者。于是我們又問，在倫敦或法蘭克福舉行路演時，公司有沒有準備一批附帶名稱和標志的刀叉送人呢。對方聽出了我們的弦外之音，知道這可能并非明智之舉。還好，他們這回并沒有準備綠色棒球帽、刀具或是香蕉。
最近，我和一位中國朋友在北京數不勝數的一家新購物中心里閑逛，發(fā)現有家小店推出的創(chuàng)意很新鮮有趣。商店中央的貨架是一水兒的臥式玻璃蓋冷柜，里面放滿了包裝精美的高檔海鮮：龍蝦、螃蟹、各種魚類應有盡有。陳列的商品全都價格不菲，花哨的包裝說明它們是送禮之用。很明顯，這里不是平常人為了居家享受而來買東西的地方。
我的中國朋友厚著臉皮問店員，這些產品是不是專為貪官推出的高檔禮品。出乎我的意料，店員笑著回答說：“咳，起碼這種方式留不下證據呀，全都給吃掉了。”這真是個好推銷員。
幾天以后，我又發(fā)現一個新的海鮮推廣計劃，主角是一種產自上海附近淡水河湖的美味：大閘蟹。我在電視廣告中看到，從陽澄湖撈起的大閘蟹每八只裝成一箱，送到指定的收貨人家中還是活蹦亂跳的。出售的大閘蟹共分三個檔次，價格包含運費在內，都帶有很多“8”：1888元，2288元和2888元。大概翻譯過來就是“高級”、“特級”和“超級”大閘蟹。
這支電視廣告的鏡頭先從水下聚焦四散奔逃的綠螃蟹，緊接著是一架商務飛機扶搖直上，離背景中的上海漸行漸遠。鏡頭轉而落到一位女士身上，她興高彩烈地打開家門，眼前一亮地從身著制服的送蟹員手中接過一箱八只裝的特級螃蟹。
大批大閘蟹乘商務飛機周游全國，這著實是“當今中國特有”的景象之一。
這段廣告只有中文版也不足為奇。我敢肯定，它針對的只是國內市場，而不是為了出口。
這樣挺好。因為至少在美國英語里，“給人螃蟹”是一個極不友善、極不討喜、極不受用的說法。實際上，“螃蟹”在這句話里指的是“陰虱”。
如此看來，送禮的學問可真是深之又深了。
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The Complexities of Gift Giving
I recently had lunch with a young American chap, who just arrived in Hong Kong to take up his first international assignment. His employer, a financial institution, thoughtfully arranged a series of briefings on Hong Kong which included some cultural background, do's and don'ts, and so on, all of which he consumed with interest and enthusiasm.
Coincidentally, he first arrived in Hong Kong in August, 2010, the same month that I did, only 36 years earlier. Our conversation made me think about lessons on cultural differences which I have learned and where I learned them. I also attended a briefing session in my first month, which was organized by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce for newcomers to Hong Kong. It was very helpful, although in one sense the past 36 years have been a kind of ongoing, long-term briefing session because culture is dynamic and both Hong Kong and China have undergone such dramatic changes in this time period.
My American friend proudly told me he had learned the inappropriateness in Chinese culture of giving a man a green hat, which implies that his wife is having an affair. This is a learning especially relevant to Americans because we're obsessed with baseball and what we call baseball caps, many of which bear logos of sports teams or companies, and come in a rainbow of different colors. Better leave the green ones in Los Angeles or Chicago rather than sending them to Shanghai as merchandising items.
Giving gifts appropriate to the situation is an art within any single culture, but cross-cultural gift-giving is a very complex art indeed.
I once gave a French friend a Swiss Army knife as a birthday gift, and he promptly gave me a dollar, because receiving a knife without paying something for it is considered bad luck in France (or his part of France). I've never given anyone a knife since then.
Superstitions are common around the world, even among well-educated senior business executives wearing pin-striped suits. One odd superstition which is surprisingly common among fishermen in many parts of the world is the taboo on bringing bananas onto a fishing boat. I first encountered this when fishing on a friend's power boat. He was the senior pilot training officer for a major airline, and a very nice guy; but if a guest or friend came onto his boat with a banana in his lunch box, he would promptly seize it and throw it into the sea. Another bad luck thing.
So add bananas to the list of "no-no" gift items in some places, at some times.
Many years ago when advising a large European chemical company about their marketing strategy in China, our company was asked to quote a price for producing a huge quantity of chopsticks with their Chinese company name and logo on them. "For what purpose?", we asked. The response, by telex: for distribution at an upcoming exhibition in Beijing as give-away items to visitors. We asked if they had knives and forks with their name and logo available for handing out at trade shows in London or Frankfurt, and they got the message this was perhaps not such a great idea after all. Luckily they did not produce green baseball caps, knives, or bananas for the occasion.
Recently while walking around one of Beijing's countless new shopping malls, a Chinese friend and I discovered an interesting new theme in one small shop. The retail displays were all glass-topped freezers in the middle of the shop, filled with brightly packaged boxes of expensive seafood items: lobster, crab, various types of fish, etc. Prices of all items on display were expensive, and the fancy packaging suggested these were intended as gift items. Clearly not the place where the average consumer would shop for home consumption.
My Chinese friend asked the salesman rather cheekily if the idea was that these were marketed as premium gifts for corrupt officials. To my surprise, he responded with a chuckle "Well, at least that way there's no evidence because the products are consumed." Good salesman.
A few days later I discovered yet another new seafood gift marketing scheme involving those seasonal freshwater delicacies from lakes and rivers near Shanghai: hairy crabs. I saw a video advertisement in which hairy crabs are harvested from Yang Cheng Lake, packaged in boxes of 8, and delivered live to the home of your intended recipient. Three grades of crab are on offer, price with the lucky number "8" in abundance: RMB1888, 2288, and 2888, including delivery. Roughly translated, these are labelled "High Grade", "Special Grade" and "Super Grade" hairy crabs.
The video ad zooms in on a gaggle of green crabs scurrying around under the water, and then a corporate jet taking off with Shanghai in the background. It pans to a happy lady opening the door of her home and beaming as she takes delivery of the box of 8 Special Grade crabs from the smartly uniformed crab courier.
Large numbers of hairy crabs travelling around the country by Learjet is definitely one of those "Only in Today's China" images.
Not surprisingly, the video was in Chinese only, and I'm sure the marketing strategy is aimed at the domestic rather than export market.
This is a good thing, because "to give someone the crabs" has a very unpleasant, unwelcome, and unattractive meaning, at least in American English. "Crabs" in the context of this statement refers to "crab lice."
Gift-giving just gets more and more complicated. |
