Tipping

Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s Practical A–Z

Mark Twain was never more wrong than when he said, ‘Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness,’ and this is rarely more clearly demonstrated than when discussions on tipping begin.

If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you want to do the right thing in China: to abide by local norms on tipping. You’re wondering when you should tip, and how much.

The answers are ‘never’, and ‘nothing’.

The Chinese do not tip, and there is no tradition of tipping in China. And that’s all that needs to be said. You can now skip on to the next Practical A–Z topic, Tourist Information.

Except that there are many people determined to prove Twain wrong, and who simply won’t be told. In case you’re one of them, here are the responses that often come up.

No, really. How much do you tip?

Really, you don’t. The Chinese don’t tip.

Do you think you should be singled out to pay more because you’re visibly not Chinese? Away from big hotels, glossy restaurants favoured by expats, and anything visited by tour groups, leave money on the table and the waitress will pursue you down the street to return it. There’s no mechanism for the reception of tips, because there is no tipping. Hand over your fare to any regular honest cabbie and he’ll give you change, and be slightly bewildered if you don’t want to take it. In China, the price you negotiate for a service is the price you pay: hairdressers, bell boys, taxi drivers, tour guides, and waiters are all employed to serve you and paid a salary to do so. They operate according to fixed and posted rates, or provide the service for the sum you agree in advance, and not that price plus a bit more. In general the Chinese are shocked when they see foreigners insisting that they be overcharged, and they despise those sectors of the tourist industry that abuse foreigners by accepting or even insisting upon tips. See Tours.

Oh, you’re so cheap.

Then so are 1.4 billion Chinese. There’s no tipping in China.

Well, I gave the bell boy some money and he didn’t object.

If you leave a window open for a burglar he won’t object either. Will that make the burglary right? If you’re staying in a standard Chinese hotel anyone offering you assistance will simply be bemused at the offer of cash. If you’re staying in an upper-end foreign-run hotel you’ll likely find in the directory in your room a note that tipping is unnecessary in China, or see a sign making the same point. Report that your bell boy actually requested a tip and he’ll be out of a job shortly afterwards.

You’re out of date. China’s now a developed, capitalist nation, and has caught up with us.

Setting aside that reaching a state in which you pay your staff next to nothing so that they have to depend on tips could hardly be called progress, and setting aside that China is at best a developing nation with a long way to go, is Japan a developed nation? Australia? There’s no tipping in either place. Who is tipped and how much, or whether anyone is tipped at all, is a matter of custom, and nothing to do with development. In China there’s no tipping except that which foreigners insist on forcing upon themselves.

My tour company’s guidelines…

Stop there. This would be the same tour company whose schedule turned out to contain a lot of shopping ‘opportunities’ not mentioned in the original itinerary, and that provided notes on compulsory (‘expected’) tipping, for drivers and tour guides, sometimes disguised as a ‘service charge’ that Chinese never pay, after you’d booked? Hardly a disinterested party. Again, see Guides.

Well, I didn’t mind tipping because they’re so poor.

To describe being cheated as an act of voluntary charity suggests that a career in public relations beckons. People working in the tourism industry are often doing very nicely by Chinese standards, and on all but a limited number of guided tours are deliberately leading you to restaurants, sights, and shopping ‘opportunities’ at which you’ll be overcharged and they’ll get a kick-back. Even at home would such behaviour deserve a tip? If you’re determined to be charitable, there are the maimed, disabled, and mentally ill on the streets who would be far more worthy of your attention, although see ‘Beggars’ under Crimes, Scams, and Nuisances.

Are there any exceptions?

Yes, for absolutely exceptional service well beyond the call of duty, but not simply for doing the job contracted. Suppose, for instance, you leave an expensive camera in a taxi, and a call to the number on the receipt locates the driver who then drives right across the city to return an item worth many times his monthly income, without even starting the meter. Even then he’ll refuse anything you offer, and you’ll need to insist at least two further times and gently but firmly overcome his resistance. That is true Chinese courtesy.

If you are in a tour group and your tour leader is a foreigner, you may consider tipping along the lines common in your own culture. But that has nothing to do with China.

Next in Practical A–Z: Tourist Information
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