In America, people say "the squeaky wheel gets the grease," but in China, they say "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down." Even though the gap between the rich and the poor has widened in China in the past decade, the appearance of social equality is still important.

I have a Chinese friend whose husband is a very successful entrepreneur. He loves cars so he bought a Mercedes and a BMW. However, he almost never drives them. He continues to commute to work in an old black Buick. Now that they have two children, I thought they would buy a fancy Mercedes minivan, but instead, they bought a local Chinese-made brand with minimum trappings. When I asked my friend why they didn't buy what they could easily afford, she replied that they don't want to appear too wealthy. It attracts too much attention, and they want to avoid envy and jealousy from their employees and friends.

(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)