I’m going to be taking a Chinese girl out on a date this weekend, and I’d like to bring her flowers when I pick her up. Before I go and buy some generic flowers, I was wondering if there are any particular flowers that Chinese culture views as more romantic/appropriate to present to a woman on a date. Most useful would be flowers that are available in the U.S. and at this time of year, though any information on the subject would be interesting.
Well, white is a big no-no. White is for funerals.
Is she American-born Chinese, or from overseas? If the latter, how long has she lived in the US?
If she hasn’t been in the US long, she might completel y misunderstand your intentions by bringing flowers–you might want to re-think this.
She’s been in the U.S. for almost 7 years now. In what way would bringing flowers be misunderstood (assuming they aren’t white at least)?
White is not entirely out opf the question in this case…
Consider a lotus blossom, just before it opens, with a spray of white jasmine…
One represents eternal purity, the other expresses sweetness of being…
Regards
FML
At least in Shanghai these days, roses are a pretty good bet. In fact, there is a famous song from IIRC the 1930’s “meigui meigui, wo ai ni” (rose rose, I love you…)
Well, if that’s the kind of date you’re interested in…
Hard to go wrong with roses.
You might want to consider the possibility that she doesn’t want to be treated as a “Chinese” girl. Seven years is a long time and she very well could be somewhat westernized.
I went out for awhile with a Japanese girl that had left Japan only five years before we met. I treated her in the same way I treated any girl. After a month or so she mentioned how grateful she was that I was treating her like a “normal American” girl. She said she was so tired of going out to Japanese restaurants, receiving Japanese type gifts, having guys constantly asking how things were done in Japan, etc, etc.
Pink carnations could be a good compromise. Pink is a good colour, and carnations are pretty, smell nice, and aren’t as overwhelmingly “serious” as a rose is. YMMV.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! I decided to hold out on the flowers until a later date, so I’ll probably take one of the suggestions when I do that.
This isn’t really a concern for me. We’ve been out a few times, so I have a fairly good feel for her general demeanor, and I think she’d appreciate the extra effort that went into doing a bit of research.
This is true. Maybe you could present her with a large hot dog. 
I’d go with roses, or maybe a mixed bouquet. Don’t do chrysanthemums–white mums in particular are a funeral flower. I don’t know what the attitude towards colored ones is but I bet it’s not as romantic as roses. (personal cite: my aunt and uncle recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary and they told everyone about their first date… he brought her roses. This was in Hong Kong in the early 60s.)
I don’t know about Una’s suggestion–carnations have a cheap vibe to me, but that’s just my opinion.