Italian missionary Matteo Ricci, who was in China from 1583 to 1610, observed carefully the social lives of the Chinese. The following excerpt is from his journal.

When relatives of friends pay a visit, the host is expected to return the visit, and a definite and detailed ceremony accompanies their custom of visiting. The one who is calling presents a little folder in which his name is written and which may contain a few words of address depending upon the rank of the visitor or of the host. . . . These folders or booklets consist of about a dozen pages of white paper and are about a palm and a half in length, oblong in shape, with a two-inch strip of red paper down the middle of the cover . . . . one must have at least twenty different kinds on hand for different functions, marked with...