http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chinese-gifts-20100725,0,4582908.storyJuly 25, 2010
What gifts to bring to a nation that makes everything?
When Chinese Americans visit family and friends in their homeland, gifts from the U.S. are a must. But TVs and fashionable clothes aren't rare anymore, and anything 'Made in China' won't do.
By Ching-Ching Ni, Los Angeles Times
George Bao felt like a rich man the first time he flew back to China from America. He had so many gifts for his family and friends, he was lugging eight cardboard boxes in addition to his suitcase. That was in the 1980s, when flights weren't crowded. The airline didn't even charge him for the extra luggage. As for what the gifts were, the memory makes him laugh. He had brought secondhand clothes scavenged from yard sales. "My father was so happy," said Bao, who watched the elderly farmer put on his first Western suit, beaming even though it didn't fit well. "China had nothing back then"...
And now that China has transformed itself from communist backwater to manufacturing powerhouse, it's not so much what the gift is but where it comes from that matters, said Bao. "They may not all speak English, but everyone in China recognizes those three words," he said. "When they see the label 'Made in China,' they will think, 'How come you gave me this?' " These days, in other words, buying gifts to take to China is a major headache for Chinese Americans. "It really does consume people when they make preparations to go back to China," said Clayton Dube, associate director of the U.S.-China Institute at USC... "People can't imagine going back to China without bringing something," said Dube. "The gift is part of the ritual."...
American-made nutritional supplements — multivitamins, fish oil, cod liver oil, gingko extract and ginseng root — are popular. "I always run into people in the same aisles shopping for health supplements before going back to China," said Jin Ma of Irvine, who heads to Costco to pick up large bottles of colorful, chewable multivitamins... "In the old days, they didn't have enough food to eat. What are they going to do with ginseng?" said Bao, who picked up boxes of the dried root for his 82-year-old mother from Ginseng Mark Inc., located in an Arcadia strip mall that caters to those bound for China. Among the most prized are roots grown in Wisconsin — packaged in boxes that say "American" and feature the U.S. flag.
Foreign cosmetics — such as Lancôme and Clinique, drugstore body lotions, even lip balm — also are welcome gifts, as long as they're not made in China...
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