Tipping.
A tip about tipping
“Tipping is not a city in China,” or so says a peevish sign in many American diners. As it turns out, neither is it customary or expected in China’s capital.
Though tipping is increasingly more common in Hong Kong and Macau, Beijing has a longer memory for the mainland’s old policy, which kept tipping illegal until the 1980s. Service industry workers in Beijing have become generally acquainted with the foreign notion of paying extra money, but it most cases it is safer NOT to tip, as a matter of etiquette.
Cab drivers may accept a few extra kuai if you have put them to some particular trouble, or they have helped you with bags, but it’s not expected. At restaurants, you should give your money directly to the server, rather than leaving it on the table. Again, there is nothing rude about waiting for exact change, even to the point of counting and examining it when it arrives, which is what your fellow diners will be doing. At some upscale restaurants and hotels, a 10 to 15 percent service charge is added onto the bill.
Tipping is never advised at bars, and may even be met with hostility if you have managed to befriend the bartender, as a violation of the friendship relationship. People who deal regularly with foreigners, such as tour guides, translators, and drivers, often claim that tipping is regular, even mandatory, but you can be sure that they don’t tell Chinese clients the same thing. Small gifts are appropriate tokens of appreciation in these industries.
Still, at the rate that Bejing changes, and as Chinese society becomes increasingly consumerist, it’s a safe bet that all of this advice will be obsolete in five years.