A Scarf as a Gift in China...

[ineedsomecheese]

What is the significance of a scarf as a gift in China? I realize that this time of year, it's a quite a functional gift, but it was my birthday recently, and I received 4 scarves from four different girls (I'm a foreign male). When I mention that fact to Chinese people, rather than laugh at the how many duplicate gifts I got, they seem to be "impressed" or something. I've heard varying opinions on what this actually means, if anything. Can someone give me the scoop in plain English?

[elina]

I received 4 scarves from four different girls (I'm a foreign male).

It made me smile, and reminded me that, when I was in the university, at that time, girls were used to make scarf personally (not bought a ready-made one from a shop) for their boyfriends, to show the meaning of “名花有主/ this boy is mine!” or something (but not every girl, I myself had no interest to do it). And boys were glad to wear that colorful and beautiful scarf (nearly everywhere ) to show “look, how dexterous my girlfriend is!” or something.

But I’m not sure what the “four different girls” mean, it may be just a usual gift, may be not, it’s for you to explore the secret.

[Xiao Kui]

what is your strategy? Are you going to give all four scarves equal neck time to keep these girls happy? Or you can keep the other 3 in your bag and quickly change scarves as the situation demands. I mean, since according to elina, each of these 4 girls may be hoping for or already assuming something more than friendship . . .

[stBLCU]

In winter, people ususlly give scarf as a gift, so maybe just a gift:D

[ineedsomecheese]

To answer the question, I was planning on wearing each scarf on days when I would see the certain person who gave me the scarf. To respond to the person who said they're simply nice gifts, let me clarify: I say "Ha ha, I got four scarves for my birthday."

Chinese person: "Oh, you are very popular!" "Wow, who gave them to you?"

And for the record, three were hand-made by the girls who gave them and one was store bought .

Sure, I just thought they were just nice gifts at first two, I was just surprised by the reactions I get from Chinese people who know this fact... as if they mean something more than gifts.

Yes, I have been told that it may be something romantic, but I wasn't sure whether it was direct intention or not.

[Lu]

I'd say that the store-bought one was just a nice gift.

As to the hand-made ones, imagine the time and the effort put into those, and no less than three people were willing to spend that time and effort! I don't know about any romantic implications, but they must really like you to do that for you. Or they really like knitting.