Fruit Facts and Pulp Fiction

Gifts are great. We love gifts. Receiving gifts make us feel loved and appreciated, while giving gifts and seeing the happiness they bring warms our hearts. But in China, gift giving isn't as straightforward as it is in the West. My mom raised me to never visit anyone's home empty-handed. It's a rule I follow to this day regardless of whether I'm visiting a friend's home for the first time or a relative's home I go to every weekend. It doesn't need to be an expensive or extravagant thing, just a little gesture of appreciation. Here in China, one of the most common things to bring when visiting someone's home is fruit.

But it's not that simple. There's an art when it comes to giving fruit and there are definite no-nos when it comes to gifting fruit to your Chinese friends.

In China, everything has a second meaning, even fruit. Some can mean prosperity and health while others mean you're wishing your friend sickness and even death.

Although delicious, plums and apricots are not gifted. More regional to northern China, there's an old belief that these trees mostly grow on graves. The really, really superstitious believe their fruits carry yinqi, or “cold spirits.”

Another no-no fruit when visiting a Chinese friend is melon, especially watermelon. In western China, the word for melon ( gua) conjures the expression guadale, which in local dialects translates to “broken melon,” meaning something is over.

One of the most well-known fruits to avoid giving is pears. The word for pear is li, which sounds exactly like the Chinese for “leave” or “depart.” So when visiting a friend, gifting pears symbolizes ending the friendship. When visiting someone in the hospital, gifting pears is just bad manners, because it sounds like you're wishing that person to head toward the light.

Even when you've purchased pears for yourself, there are still plenty of Beijingers who won't share them with anyone. The verb “to share” in Chinese is fen, and “sharing a pear” is fenli, which is a homonym for “separation.” No one wants any bad omens looming over their relationships with their loved ones.

So what fruits are safe to give? Bananas and grapes are generally neutral. In recent years, oranges have become popular. There are now even high-end oranges complete with tracking numbers that show where they were picked, and packaged in beautiful gift boxes for the holiday season. They're supposed to represent happiness, prosperity and longevity (if they've still got some stem attached). Plus, they look golden (an auspicious color in China) and orange peels are both used as seasoning and in traditional Chinese medicine.

Then there are apples, the safest of all fruits. The Chinese for apple is pingguo: ping is a homonym for “peace” or “safety.” In the old days, before someone would embark on a long journey they'd eat an apple. And on the gloomier side, even today, before prisoners are executed, many will ask for one last apple for the road so they can go in peace.