The everyday customs of Chinese residents can surprise even the most seasoned travelers. It’s perfectly normal to stroll around the city in pajamas, clean your ears with metal chopsticks, and bring fruit to guests instead of traditional souvenirs. And the Chinese simply can’t pass by fair-haired tourists without taking a photo with them. What other habits surprise visitors from other countries?

1. Boiling Water Instead of Drinks
Forget coffee, tea, or cold lemonades—in China, people prefer to drink hot water. Almost everyone has a thermos or bottle of boiling water. Hot water is believed to help prevent illness, promote faster recovery, improve digestion, and even save money, as you don’t have to spend money on drinks.

2. Making loud noises at the table is considered polite.
If you’re not familiar with Chinese customs, you might find the behavior of locals rude. Here, no one is embarrassed to burp loudly at the table or spit in the street. However, in China, this is the norm. Burping is considered a compliment to the chef, similar to our “Thank you, it was very tasty.” And the habit of spitting saliva is linked to the idea of ​​safety, as the air in China’s megacities is far from perfectly clean.

3. Cooked Vegetables Only
Fresh salads are becoming increasingly popular worldwide, but in China, raw vegetables are rarely eaten. They believe that digesting raw food requires too much energy, and cooked vegetables are healthier and safer.

4. Soup is the last course, not the first.
In our cuisine, soup is the first course, but in China, it is served at the end of a meal or between main courses. Chinese soups are very thin and are consumed more like a hot beverage.

5. T-shirt up – belly on display
The heat in China can be sweltering, and local men have found their own way to cope: they roll their shirts up, leaving their stomachs exposed. The ideal isn’t a six-pack, but a slightly rounded belly, which symbolizes a good life and prosperity.