Chinese Way of Greeting

     In ancient China, the gesture when people greet each other usually depends on the social stratum. The lower class people usually kneel or kowtow to greet higher class people to show their respect. And the higher class people do not have to greet or show respect. This is one of the most remarkable feature of the feudal society: hierarchy depends rights. If you are born an emperor, you do not have need to kneel or kowtow anymore. But if you are born a normal citizen, you have to do such things. People are not equal, and the way people greet others are different. 
     As time goes on and China finally get the rid of imperial rule, such kind of ways like kneeling or kowtowing cease to exist. Even hardly do people nowadays bow. As for nowadays, the most common body expression when greeting is shaking hands. Shaking hand is a normal and formal way to greet people: it shows your respect and shows the equality between the two. As for American, besides shaking hands, they usually hug, which is more intimate and open. 
     Comparing with the American way of greeting people, Chinese way is conservative. Such difference is due to the culture difference. As we all know, China, one of the Asian countries, is famous for its conservation. So in social life, people always avoid body contact. In contrast, American are much more open. So they do not really care about this.