What are the chinese cultural taboos that are true to all Chinese?

Question

All Chinese means that true to any Chinese people living in any country. Or you can just post examples of cultural taboos that comes from Chinese culture.

Answer 1

I'm also married to a Chinese woman - I totally agree with the above answer.

Also never stick your chopsticks into your rice - it looks like you're offering the food to ghosts/ ancestors as it looks like incense sticks...

Avoidance of the number 4 - most buildings don't have a 4th floor as the number 4 sounds similar to the word die.

Ghost month - there must be at least a dozen rules about that.

.....

Answer 2

the truth is that there are non. I'm Chinese-American, and I have a different co-culture than Chinese and Americans. When I was in Thailand, the Chinese there also had a different co-culture than Thais and Chinese.
Taboos aren't inherited. They're not in our blood. But one taboo that I found similar that went up to 2nd generation Chinese is homosexuality. The 2nd generation Chinese in Thailand and America mostly think homosexuality is immoral and takes pride away from the family. The 3rd generation Chinese-Thais didn't seem to have a problem with this.

Answer 3

Hi,
I am a native Chinese teacher from iChineseLearning. I am very happy to answer your questions.
In China, there are many taboos that you should never try, because they may bring BAD luck! Here are the top 8 Chinese taboos:
1. Don’t Share a Pear
Sharing a pear with your friends or families, especially your loved ones can be a big taboo in China. In Chinese, the phrase for “sharing a pear” is 分梨(fēn lí). It is a homophone of 分离(fēn lí) which means “to separate”. Certainly you don’t want to separate with your loved ones. So, whenever you eat a pear, eat it all by yourself!
Taboos in Chinese Culture

2. Use Chopsticks Correctly
When you are dining at a Chinese table, you should never leave chopsticks standing straight up in the bowl of rice. This is considered as very bad table manners in China. According to Chinese taboos, this act is said to bring bad luck as the chopsticks in rice look similar to the tombstone in the graveyard. So, just put them down on the table when you are not using them.

3. Don’t Wear a Green Hat
Did you ever notice a very interesting phenomenon? In China, you may have seen a green T-shirt, a green bag, or green shoes, but never a green hat! This is because no one wants to wear a Green Hat! In China, wearing a green hat means to cheat on your husband. There are many versions of stories about this saying. One of them is that the wife made a green hat for her husband, so each time the husband wearing the green hat walks back home, the wife and her lover can see it from far distance and have time to let her lover leave before the husband notice anything.

4. Giving the Right Gifts
Chinese is a nation that emphasizes on exchanging gifts. By giving gifts, the relationships are enhanced. However, you cannot give a Chinese friend these gifts: You should never give 钟 clock as a gift. 钟(zhōnɡ) is a homophone of 终(zhōnɡ), which means “the end”. And the phrase 送钟 sònɡ zhōnɡ (to give a clock) has the meaning of 送终(sònɡ zhōnɡ)，which means to farewell a person who is dying. Similarly, you should not give 伞(sǎn) which pronounces similar to 散(sàn), meaning “to go separate ways”.

5. Don’t Cut Hair in the First Month of the Lunar Year
According to Chinese culture and traditions, cutting your hair in the first month of the lunar year can bring very bad luck to your 舅舅(jiù jiu), who is your mother’s brother or uncle in English. To perform best practices and to bring good luck in the coming New Year, one should not cut hair until Feb 2nd in Chinese lunar calendar.
Chinese Taboos
Cut Hari at a Proper Time
6. Don’t cry on New Year’s Day
Chinese New Year is the most important festival in China. There are many traditions on this day such as exchanging Chinese New Year greetings, setting firecrackers, etc. Because it is the new beginning, Chinese people will make this festival “perfect” and avoid any unhappy things including CRYING. If you do cry, it is said you will cry all year.

7. Get Away from Four
Chinese people specially don’t like the number 4(sì), because it is a homophone of the Chinese character 死(sǐ), which means “to die” in Chinese. That’s why in China you see the English letter “F” instead of 4 in the elevators. In another case when you bargain in China, avoid the price that contains the number 4 in it, such as 14, 144, etc.

Very Unlucky Number "4"
8. Don’t Whistle at Night
You must keep away from whistling during the night. In China, people believe spirits and ghosts will come out at night to perform daily activities. According to the old individuals, whistling at night is certain to draw the attention of wandering spirits who will follow the whistle and take away the person who whistles. Sound scary, right?

If you have further questions, leave me a message.
My email is: [e-mail]

Answer 4

Add one.

Never choose a clock as a gift. In Chinese pronunciation, it's close to another Chinese word which means send to death.

Answer 5

10 years of being married to a Chinese has taught me that the most important thing is "Face".
Never do anything to make them lose face.i.e. do not embarass them in any way.They are great at telling little white lies to keep everyone happy.
Take off your shoes when entering their homes is also a must.
Apart from that, most of them are fairly easygoing.

Answer 6

do not sweep floor during first day of Chinese new year.