A fellow speaker from California named Geri flew to Japan, in her favorite jeans and a casual jacket, to give her first speech. Fourteen hours later, four perfectly dressed Japanese gentlemen greeted her at Narita Airport. Smiling and bowing low, they handed her their business cards. With her bag in one hand, Geri took their cards with the other. She thanked them, glanced briefly at the cards, and put them into her jeans pocket quickly.

When the five of them arrived at the hotel, they invited Geri to tea in the lobby (大厅). While sipping tea, the gentlemen presented her with a small gift which she eagerly opened. She was thrilled with the gift and shouted excitedly, “Oh, it’s beautiful!”

At this point, the four Japanese gentlemen stood up and, bowing only very slightly, said “Sayonara” and left immediately. Poor Geri was left astonished. What did she do wrong?

Everything! Her jeans were the first gaffe. Even if you’re coming off a bicycle in Japan, you do not meet c1ients (客人) casually dressed. The second mistake was Geri’s handling of their business cards rudely. In Japan, the business card is one of the most important communicative tools. It is always presented and accepted respectfully with both hands. However, Geri put their cards away much too quickly. In Japan, people use business cards as a conversation starter. You chat about each other’s cards and work and do not put theirs away until they gently and respectfully place yours in safekeeping. Putting it carelessly into her jeans pocket was the ultimate disrespect.

Then, the fourth horror of horrors was that Geri should not have opened the gift in front of her clients. In a land where saving face is critical, it would be embarrassing to discover the gift they gave was not as nice as the one they received. What is worse, Geri hadn’t even given them a gift!

The art of paper cutting in China has a long history, which originated from the 6th century. As paper became more affordable, paper cutting has become one of the most important types of Chinese folk art. Later, this art form spread to other parts of the world, with different areas adopting their own cultural styles. Because the paper cuts are often used to decorate doors and windows, they are sometimes referred to as “window flowers”.

Scissors and knives are the basic tools to make a paper cut, and the subjects are different in figures, such as flowers, bird, characters, familiar folk stories and fairy tales. It’s also common to see some Chinese characters on paper cuts. The most famous paper cutting characters in Chinese are words meaning “lucky” and “double happiness”. Even these days, Chinese people love to hang paper cutting of these two characters at their doors.

Chinese paper cuts were used for religious and ceremonial purposes in the past. They have been buried with the dead and burned at funerals. At the same time, paper cuts have special significance on festivals and holidays.

Paper cuts are made in many areas through the country; in general, the northern style is bold and free while the southern is delicate (精致的) and smooth.

People express wishes and hopes with paper cutting. As a national non-material culture heritage (遗产), paper cutting is really precious.

Icelanders have a beautiful tradition of giving books to each other on Christmas Eve and then spending the night reading. This custom is so deeply rooted in the culture that it is the reason for Christmas Book Flood, when the majority of books in Iceland are sold between September and December in preparation for Christmas giving.

“Books get attention here.” says Baldur Bjarnason, a researcher who has written about the Icelandic book industry.

The small Nordic island, with a population of only 329,000 people, is extraordinarily literary（文学的）. They love to read and write. According to a BBC article, “The country has more writers, more books published and more books read, per head, than anywhere else in the world... One in 10 Icelanders will publish a book.”

It seems there is more value placed on physical, paper books than in North America, where e-books have grown in popularity. One bookstore manager said, “The book in Iceland is such an enormous gift —you give a physical book. You don’t give e-books here” The book industry is driven by the majority of people buying several books each year, rather than the North American pattern of a few people buying lots of books.

It sounds like a wonderful tradition, perfect for a winter evening. It is something that I would love to incorporate（吸收）into my own family’s celebration of Christmas.