Advice for Travelers in China: Numbers

Without examining it, there is a general assumption that one's own hand gestures are universal. In China they aren't. Numbers are especially confusing, since the Chinese don't count by anything so prosaic as holding up fingers. When you ask how much something is -- using what does seem to be a universal gesture of rubbing your fingertips together -- a shopkeeper will make some random sign with their hand, and leave you as confused as when you started.

Those who have had more experience with tourists seem to know that their own signs might be confusing, but don't quite know a different way. The tour guide we had in Guilin -- her handskills with Rock, Paper, Scissors notwithstanding -- held up five fingers no matter what number she was saying. "There are nine lions carved in that stone." "We are sitting at table number three." "It is a 17 km drive away."

You can get by pretty easily by just writing down numbers, but if you're interested: One through five are simple, done the way we do it in the U.S., except for three, which is the sign we usually make for "perfect" -- thumb and forefinger rounded into a circle, the last three fingers up in the air. (Ok, only just this second figuring out why no one has understood when I've responded with the "perfect" sign every time a waitress has wordlessly asked how the food was.) Six involves sticking your thumb and pinky out to the side while bending the rest of your fingers down to your palm (the "hang loose" sign, or a "y" in sign language). Seven looks like you're pointing a gun, using two fingers as the barrel. Eight, inexplicably, is the same but with only one finger. Nine, you curl all your fingers to meet your thumb in a circle, and then extend your index finger up somewhat, keeping it curled (an "x" in sign language). And ten is simply a fist.