The Chinese often find it puzzling that when Westerners sneeze, they immediately say "Excuse me" afterwards. And their friends would reply, "God bless you" in response. The Chinese don't understand why one should apologize for sneezing; after all, it is not something one does on purpose.

On the other hand, they find it quite offensive that Westerners don't have any qualms about blowing their nose loudly in public. A few of my Chinese friends tell me that they think it is rather gross how Westerners, both male and female, blow their noses loudly into a handkerchief and then stuff the dirty rag back in their pocket. The Chinese, on the other hand, tend to blow their noses as quietly as possible into a tissue and then quickly dispose of the dirty tissue.

I used to make fun of my mom who blows her nose so delicately that it almost looks like she is just sniffing the tissue. And she would admonish me for blowing mine hard and would warn me not to blow my brains out! I would often put a dirty tissue in a pocket until I could find a trash can at a convenient time; but she would hold a soiled tissue out between two fingers and hunt down a trash can to dispose of it.

(selected from 101 Stories for Foreigners to Understand Chinese People by Yi S. Ellis and Bryan D. Ellis, published by China Intercontinental Press in 2012)