Concerning nice people in China, there are two kinds: the kind who otherwise claim to be nice because ¡°Chinese people, with a history of 5,000 years, are always nice,¡± and the kind who speak through their nice acts.

To the latter, I salute you. It is you who have made my time in China truly enjoyable, helping me to forgive the various taxis, tourist workers, tour guides, and even real estate owners who have either ripped me or attempted to rip me off during my time here. So with the Chinese New Year just around the corner, I dedicate this column to all the nice people in China.

There are many types of nice people. Here, I will focus on my personal shining examples of three kinds: those that go above and beyond the call of duty, those that display their kindness through simple, everyday deeds, and those who are just plain honest.

Type 1: Those who goes above and beyond

One May Day holiday, while I was trekking across Inner Mongolia, one young businessman insisted on showing me around his hometown in Hohhot, taking me to such places as Genghis Khan¡¯s Mausoleum and treating me out to dinner, all at his expense.

Another time, during one Spring Festival vacation, as I was near the top of Mount Huang, a hotel staff gave me an umbrella after I found myself facing the prospect of a two-hour rain-soaking walk down the mountain for my train.

These two examples are particularly because the people seemingly didn¡¯t get anything in return for their heartwarming actions. Now with the young man, I did promise to host him in my hometown one day and still have his contact. But usually, in cases like the abovementioned, I will never see the people again, and so can repay such kindness only by paying someone else a nice deed in turn.

Type 2: Those who display kindness through simple everyday deeds

When I taught at a college a couple of years ago, outside the school gate there were two bicycle repairmen who often let students fill their tires for free and who always were quick to help anyone with bike problems. One of the men, in his mid to late 50¡¯s, always had a serious look and rarely smiled, but never failed to lend people a helping hand, proving that smiling is not the only indicator of a nice person, and vice-versa.

I especially appreciate my former students. Having heard horror stories of students rebelling against teachers who ¡°Didn¡¯t teach in the right way,¡± I was delighted when my students, coming from both urban and rural areas, were open and receptive to my somewhat unorthodox teaching style, leading to many engaging and culture-enhancing discussions, proving that anybody in any environment has the ability to shun narrow-mindedness and embrace new things.

I also want to give a shout out to all the people who say ¡°hello¡± to me in front of my face. Now if you give me a floating hello behind my back, it doesn¡¯t mean you are a mean person. Perhaps you are truly nervous about speaking in English to foreigners. But in any case, if I were to say ¡°ni hao¡± (¡°hello¡±) to you behind your back, well, you yourself would view it as kind of rude and would prefer that I greet you face to face. People who say hi to my face make my day.

Also, kudos to the people who say ¡°ni hao¡± to other Chinese people, as opposed to only foreigners. A student once said: ¡°Chinese people are not really nice because they only say hi to foreigners but not to each other.¡± While I am not sure that this in itself is a good measure of one¡¯s level of niceness, a friendly hi to your fellow compatriots does put you up a notch over your peers, and also can do wonders for people¡¯s day.

Type 3: Good old honest people

The first person that comes to mind is a taxi driver in Nanjing I met while traveling one Spring Festival. He restored my faith in the existence of honest people after taking me directly to the hotel I was looking for, even though I was completely clueless as to where I was.

Big deal, you say? Well, I had just come from a place where the taxi drivers were as honest as the boy who cried wolf. In fact, later some of my students said that this city, which shall mercifully remain nameless, is known for having less than stellar cabbies. So that Nanjing driver kept me from becoming a pessimist in human nature.

And last but not least, the people who tell me the truth when I am lost and ask for directions. There are few things worse than being hopelessly lost and asking a person for direction: being lied to and pointed into any old direction to the point of no return by the person when he or she doesn¡¯t know the answer (for the sake of so-called face) is one of them.

Actually concerning the many nice people I have met, I could go on and on. For example, I recently saw in Beijing a young woman frantically run up to another young woman to return a 100-yuan bill that the latter had unknowingly dropped.

But space is limited, and the time for the reunion is at hand. So have a great Spring Festival and be sure to drive, ride, and walk safely on the streets, take any leftovers from your New Year Eve¡¯s meal home, and, of course, be nice to people. Xin nian kuai le (Happy New Year)!

Write to Raymond McFarland at: mcstephen23@hotmail.com