The Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) is coming up (Feb 3rd) and many businesses are thanking their Chinese partners and clients for a year of fruitful collaboration by sending a thoughtful gift. Here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Avoid cultural pitfalls or make your gift even more special by taking other traditions into account. Consider wrapping your gift in red gift wrap. The color is considered lucky by the Chinese and thus would give your gift extra authenticity. Do your research to avoid certain items that are considered unlucky. For instance, do not give knives or scissors as they symbolize breaking a relationship. Also avoid clocks, watches or anything in sets of four (the number is unlucky). Six, eight and nine are a lucky numbers.

2. Whenever giving a gift to a foreign partner, you should always be aware of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The FCPA forbids anyone from paying a bribe to a foreign official, no matter how small the monetary value of the bribe is. In China, this is especially problematic. Many Chinese companies are state-owned enterprises. Therefore their directors and officers would be considered foreign officials. In these scenarios, only give gifts to individuals where you are absolutely sure the receiver will see the gift as a gesture of goodwill.

All in all, informed and culturally-sensitive gift-giving is great way to forge stronger relationships with key Chinese contacts and position your business for even greater success in 2011.