A story making the rounds today, is about a poster being put up in Dongcheng district in Beijing, advising Chinese what they should avoid talking about with foreigners.

They are advised not to talk about, “age, salary, love life, health, income, political views, religious beliefs or personal experiences.” I would probably agree that in my home country Australia, people don’t often ask directly people’s ages, their salary or religion.

From my experience traveling in Asia, not just China these are fairly standard questions by locals when you first meet them. It annoyed me a little at first, but often I wanted to ask exactly the same questions to them, so I had to get used to it.

The blog Cupofcha.com has a list of eight things foreigners shouldn’t ask Chinese when they visit Beijing for the Olympics. I particularly like, “Why can’t I see any blue on Beijing’s blue sky days?”