Thanks Peter - I knew you'd say it better than I could!

On English signage - I really don't remember whether the western cities had noticeably fewer English signs than the eastern the last time I was there ('04, before the Olympic prep really got underway), because by that time I'd figured out how to navigate without them. Certainly in the smaller places I went there was extremely limited English, but I actually found China easier to handle than Russia.

Paulchili.
This started out as a discussion on a particular tour company, and is ending up on tipping in American Restaurants.

If you are a visitor to the U.S.A. and go out to eat, please tip the service personnel. You are their income. They get taxed on presumed tips. Tips in the USA are part of the income.

hahahaha, thank you I knew I wasn't the only one

Aloha!

Mahalo, HT, as lonely as it was, you were absolutely right from the very beginning, this character is one of a kind. Aloha!

According to Paulchili, people who don't tip their tour guides in China are "ill mannered and “cheapskates”". This seems a very US-centric view. For a start, tipping is by no means a worldwide custom. I'm from New Zealand and we don't tip, so obviously if Americans visiting NZ don't tip either we don't regard them as either ill-mannered or cheapskates. And tipping isn't customary in China. When I visit the US, I tip. When I visit China, as I will be doing in a couple of days, I won't be tipping. Do as the locals do.

Solarflare,

Very interesting reply for your very first post on Fodor's, welcome!

Also interesting that your writing style is amazingly similar to someone else on this thread

Hawaiiantraveler: thanks for the welcome. This actually isn't my first Fodors post as I have posted in the past in the New Zealand forum answering people's questions. Perhaps that was too long ago to show up in the index as I can't see any of my posts when I search on my username. In any case, it will also be my last post, at least for a while, as I am leaving very soon for my first China trip. Hopefully when I return I will be able to answer questions on this forum in return for the helpful information so many people have posted here that I've benefited from in planning my trip. As for your comment about my writing style, I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you mean. It may have meant more to me if I'd been able to read the entire thread, but I have been skimming to pick up last-minute advice. I should really be packing.

Having finally zipped my case and weighed it (oh no, 20 kg and that's before I even get there - lucky I'm not a shopper) I've had time to come back and read this thread in more detail. It seems I have unwittingly got embroiled in some kind of argument I want no part of. Hawaiiantraveler's post appears to be suggesting I am another poster posting under a different name, which is so "out there" I can't see any point in responding. It's a rather odd welcome to this board.

The only reason I responded to this thread was the suggestion that not tipping is by definition a cheap thing to do. It seems a worthwhile thing to me to correct any idea that tipping is a universal custom in developed countries. It isn't, in my culture and in others. I'll leave it at that.

Have a good trip Solarflare. Great name by the way.

Have a nice trip!

Funny, all my posts for the last 4 years are showing when I check and they list in the thousands.

Aloha!

Welcome to the Asia board, solarflare. Hope you have a great trip to China - please come back and tell us about it! (And thanks for another voice pointing out that tipping isn't universal.)