Shanghai Local Customs

In China people will always use your last name first. If you are invited to somebody's house for a meal, it is polite to arrive with an offering for your hosts such as chocolates or fruit. If you really want to impress, take something special from your home country, although such items as key rings embossed with your company logo will not be well received. When invited out, it is considered good manners to arrive slightly early. If you are hosting, then try to arrive even earlier - about half an hour or so.

Shanghai Dining

In the last few years, the restaurants of Shanghai have undergone a revival. The old, government-run food halls have gone and have been replaced by an exciting range of eateries, from fast food and street stalls to sophisticated international restaurants. Eating out in Shanghai is now a treat, and visitors are confronted by the vast range of fabulous dishes for which Chinese cuisine is so rightly famed. In China, cooking is known as the 'ninth art' and Shanghai is said to lead the country as far as catering is concerned. There are many restaurants of renown with chefs who specialise in cooking dishes from all eight of the Chinese styles: Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Anhui and Fujian. Each of these consist of several localised styles; for example, Zhejiang cuisine is made up of Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shaoxing dishes. A diner could eat out for more than a year in Shanghai and still only try a fraction of the cuisine on offer.

Shanghai Tipping Advice

Tipping used to be very rare in China but now, no doubt through Western influence, the idea is catching on. In restaurants, a 3% tip is standard, and bellboys and room service staff expect roughly USD 1.00 or USD 2.00. You can tip in American dollars as hard currency is always appreciated.