Sometimes giving thanks needs no words

Not every good deed merits a "thank you" - not among close friends and relatives in China, anyway. After seven years abroad, this basic Chinese rule of social interaction had slipped Wang Wenbo's mind.

The 27-year-old got a nudge last year, when a cousin and her husband from Shanghai visited Wang's hometown in Northeast China. They brought her miniature sculptures as a present, and Wang generously expressed her appreciation. After Wang's third "thank you", her cousin spoke up.

"Why do you keep saying that? I gave you a gift because you're my family. You don't need to say thank you," Wang, who now works at a foreign multinational in Beijing, quotes her cousin as saying.