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Q: Chinese people re-gifting the presents you gave them? Normal?
I recently gave fairly expensive gifts which I brought back from abroad to some Chinese people I know, only to later discover that they passed some of these presents onto other family members and friends. I was, and still am, absolutely furious because a) it's totally rude, b) the presents were intended for them and ONLY them c) I spent a lot of money on the gifts and wouldn't have bothered if I knew they were just going to give them away to someone else!!!!
Is this a sign that they have no respect for me and don't like my presents or are there other "cultural" factors at play which I'm not aware of? Has anyone had a similar experience? And should I confront them about it?
we have a pot in out kitchen that we gave as a gift, and was re-gifted to us.
Generally giving presents in China is tricky, e.g. people rarely open presents while you are there, and the of course often presents are hongbao or silly amounts of fruit
How long have you been in China? If more than a month you should know that Chinese people are the masters of frugality. FREE is their favorite word and why buy a special gift for a special friend or spouse when you can give them the $5 pen that the Construction Bank gave you for opening a million dollar account? Heck that would cost money.
Seriously, what is wrong with regifting? The West has been doing for decades and once again class... Who do the Chinese copy?
I have to confess i do that as well sometimes.As pegasus said,most people just don't want to spend extra money buying new gifts if we have already got some at hand.It doesn't mean they don't respect you,but maybe they don't like the present much,otherwise,they wouldn't send it to the others.We often re-gift presents we don't like much or those without any practicability.
The other reason is that probably they don't know the presents you gave cost that much.
