Gift Giving..... the Chinese Way!

One of the things we will need to be prepared to do while in China is hand a gift to every Chinese government person we meet with along the way! That means.... the orphanage caregiver that brings Grace to us, the Registration officials, the Notary Officials, and the Passport Officials. Our agency gives us a list of items that we should purchase (not to be deviated from!) and the total number of gifts we will need to have (we will need 9). They also tell us not to worry about the gender of the person who will receive the gift.....if we give a man perfume.... he'll be just as happy because he can take it home to his wife. If we give a woman a compact tool set....she'll get points with the husband when she gets home from work! The other items on the list are American made candy or chocolate, a nice pen, quality stationary, cosmetics, official sports caps and T-shirts, and scarves! The next rule is - all items must be given in a red gift bag! I've bought all the red gift bags in Wallmart to date and am waiting for the next shipment! I've been accumulating a few gifts - a scarf, a bottle of perfume, and a couple of Chicago Cub hats (again, from Wallmart....their variety of sports stuff is OK - I checked with the agency to see how "official" - "official" meant!) I am being especially careful to buy things that are not made in China (or to remove the tell-tale tag....like on the hats!) as I think this would defeat the purpose of presenting a special "American" gift! Just as I'd never show up at your house for dinner without a bottle of wine....I guess every culture truly has their gift giving mores!