All cultures have set phrases for greeting. No doubt, you have been taught to say, `How are you?` when you greet an English speaker, and to reply with,`Fine, thanks` when someone greets you, but the set phrases differ across cultuers. Although it is common in Chinese to greets people with,`How are you?` it is more common to say, `Have you eaten?` or `Where are you going?` The `Where are you going?` greeting can irritate some people, even though the greeter is just being polite in recognizing your presence by offering a greeting. For example, when I was a student at a university in Shanghai, I had to go to the shower block in order to take a shower. This was a special building, a bath house, where all the showers were. It was pretty easy to tell if someone was going to the shower block. They would be wearing special shower slippers, carrying a large plastic bowl with a bar of soap in it, and have a towel draped around their necks. So when I walked to the shower block and people used to greet me with, `Where are you going?` I often felt like (reply) `Where do you think Iam going to with my slippers, bowl, soap and towel? Make a guess.`
