Folklore Form/Genre: Chinse gesture/mannerism               Informant: Eddie Ma

Name: Hand Waving Motion for Signaling People               Place of Discovery: Hanover, NH

Item Video: EddieVideo-18g3b0d

Informant Data: Eddie Ma is from Chicago, Illinois. He was born, however, in Huai’an City in the Jiangsu Province of China. He moved to Chicago when he was four where he was raised in a culturally strict Chinese household. Eddie learned the proper way to signal for individuals to “come over” when he was a little kid. Currently, Eddie is a freshman at Dartmouth College. He plans on double majoring in Computer Science and Economics and pursuing a career in financial services.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: I collected this piece of folklore from Eddie while visiting him in Rauner Hall in the McLaughlin Cluster Dormitory. I recorded him on an iPhone while he sat on a table in a common area. I asked him to elaborate on a few rude gestures or mannerisms in China. One gesture he mentioned was in regard to the way that people are summoned or motioned to “come over”. He claimed that when asking for someone to come near you, you should extend your arm out and wave/flap your hand downward instead of upward. He said that waving your hand upwards is reserved for animals and is a very rude gesture to utilize on a person. Eddie does not recall the exact place or location where he learned the distinction between these gestures, but he said that it was most likely when he was a young child.

Cultural Context: There are a variety of mannerisms and gestures in Chinese culture that are inappropriate, even though they may seem appropriate in Western nations like the United States. Eddie later mentioned that animals have a much larger representation in Chinese culture (such as in zodiac signs, Chinese calendar, etc.) than they do in the United States. This might explain why the Chinese choose to differentiate the way humans and animals are summoned, as opposed to the standard way of waving your hand upward in the United States. This gesture is simply rude in Chinese culture in all occurrences.

Item: The item presented here is a video of a rude mannerism/gesture in Chinese culture. In order to summon an individual or signal him/her to “come here”, one must flap their hand downward instead of upward. I recorded this interview as a video with an iPhone camera. All of the information provided is an accurate depiction of the knowledge I gained while speaking with Eddie (See associated video for gesture in action).

Transcript: 

“This [while making the rude hand gesture] is sort of like summoning someone. People do this more for animals and dogs, and it’s more degrading.”

Informant’s Comments:

“Now that I live in America, I signal people with my palm facing upward, but I remember learning that this was rude in China when I was a kid.”

Collector’s Comments:

This hand gesture greatly differs from what is and isn’t appropriate in American culture. If I were to “motion someone over”, I would most certainly do it with my palm facing up. The fact that this is rude in China—and that it is instead far more proper signal with your hand pointing downward—illustrates a large difference in proper manners between Americans and Chinese people.

Key Words:

• China
• Insulting
• Hand Gesture
• Hand Signaling
• Upward Palm