Question

Have you ever thought about how you answer a compliment(恭维)?I didn’t see the cultural differences of a compliment until I moved to Beijing from the US about four months ago．

From my personal experience，it’s usually polite to say thank you，smile，change the subject or give that person a compliment too．I found this is not usually the way people accept a compliment in China．

I’ve seen that Chinese are very modest(谦虚的)when receiving a compliment．In China，

people might say a quick thank you and disagree with the compliment．One example of this is speaking the Chinese 0r English language．I’m trying to learn Chinese：and I’m honestly not good．However，sometimes when I say a simple word like“thank you” in Chinese, people tell me my Chinese is so good! This seems very silly to me because xiexie is usually the second phrase people learn．

From the other point of view，a Chinese person may even start a conversation by saying their English is very poor．After having a full conversation，I tell them with honesty their English is quite good．They will not accept the compliment，yet their English is much better than my Chinese!

In a word，I think it’s important to have a balance when accepting a compliment．It’s good to be modest，but it’s also okay to welcome it at the same time．

1.What did the writer see when he moved to Beijing?(不超过10个单词)

2.How do Chinese people start a conversation sometimes?(不超过10个单词)

3.When did the writer move to Beijing?(不超过5个单词)

Answer 1