Green hats and Chinese men
Posted in Asia, China on July 5th, 2010 by Andy Jarosz – 9 Comments
I find the many customs and faux-pas relating to doing business in Asia so fascinating. How to eat, how to sit at a table, where to sit in a car (depending on seniority of other passengers), who to invite to a wedding: all have deeply enshrined traditions and rituals that are strictly followed by a particular ethnic group.
One set of advice in particular that stuck in my memory was related to giving gifts in China. There are two very distinct taboos. One is the clock. According to varying accounts, the phrase ‘giving a clock’ sounds similar to that of ‘attending a funeral’ or ‘wishing someone dead’ (my web research on this produced many similar but slightly different interpretations, all focussing on death). Apparently the way around this if you are determined to make a gift of a clock to your Chinese host is to sell it to him for a nominal amount, thereby avoiding the problem of ‘giving’ the clock.
Of more interest to me is the second no-no gift: the green hat. Ask any person of Chinese descent and they seem to immediately know the significance of the green hat. A person wearing a green hat is making a statement that their partner is unfaithful to them. Giving this as a gift is clearly not going to go down very well. One account describes how the late Deng Xiaoping visited a manufacturing plant in Texas and was presented with a local baseball cap which was, you’ve guessed it, green. Unsurprisingly, he chose not to wear it.
What are the origins of this taboo? The phrase ‘wearing a green hat’ apparently sounds similar to the word for cuckold (man with adulterous wife). The symbol dates back many centuries, and in the past the families of prostitutes were forced to wear green hats as a mark of shame.
There are clearly many misunderstandings that could be created with a green hat (I would suspect that the green hat might be a popular prop in Chinese TV comedy and theatre). It also makes me wonder: can you actually buy a green hat in China? I mean, would there be a specific green hat shop where you would go to make the statement to a friend (or a partner)?
I will certainly check the colour of any hats I wear on my next visit to China. Thankfully I don’t ever remember giving anyone a hat as a gift, so I feel comfortable that I won’t be making this cultural faux-pas at least. But if you are thinking of buying a piece of headwear for a Chinese friend, it may be wise to check the colour of your gift before you make a grave mistake.









