A young couple holding hands, perhaps blushing at the contact, is the very image of young love, still shy and innocent. We in the West look at this gesture of affection as romantic in nature, something people do in the glow of a new relationship. With this image fixed in mind, if you get plonked down in a Chinese city of a sudden, you will look around you at all of the young couples holding hands and come to the conclusion that some 90% of young Chinese men and women are gay.

Of course, the assumption is faulty. While some young Chinese might indeed be gay, it's unlikely that these couples are actually walking down the street hand-in-hand. The reason is simple: hand-holding is not a romantic gesture in China. Same-sex friends hold hands as a simple gesture of friendship. The hand-holding seems to be limited to same-sex friends and to the younger generations for whatever reasons, but other than that it's quite pervasive.

In an interesting reversal of the confusion, whereas hugging is a gesture of friendship or familial affection in the West, in China friends do not hug. A hug is considered a much more intimate gesture in China than it is in the West. If you try to hug a Chinese friend he or she may see it as a gross invasion of privacy and react stiffly and with confusion.

You should also know that public displays of romantic affection are rather taboo in China. Whereas couples in the West often hug or kiss in public without anyone so much as noticing, couples rarely do so in China. It's simply considered wildly inappropriate to show romantic affection in public.

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