"Ministry of Foreign Affairs?" Fan Wubing frowned. He thought to himself that he had nothing to do with this place, how could they notice their arrival?

According to people from the embassy, ​​meeting government officials, leaders of companies and enterprises or friends in Egypt must undoubtedly make an appointment and should not be uninvited guests. However, due to special circumstances, the hospitality of Egypt will not be as common as Westerners. They will always welcome them with a smile.

Work-oriented meetings are held in the office. Except for senior officials, no one treats you as a VIP and sends you to the reception room to pick you up and drop you off. People who meet often talk to you while working, but for example, subordinates send a signed document, or call outside for a few minutes to talk, and you are left alone and ignored. If you encounter such a thing a few times, you will gradually get used to this Egyptian-style meeting.

But it is obvious that it seems a bit surprising that the people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rashly visit Fan Wubing.

Despite this, Fan Wubing agreed to let the other party come in, and the people from the embassy accompanied him, so as to avoid any obstacles in communication between the two parties, or misunderstandings due to different customs and habits.

Egyptians have many habits, and most of them are like this. They think the right is better than the left, and the right is auspicious. Doing things starts with the right hand and the right foot. Shaking hands, dining, and delivering things must be done with the right hand. Wearing the right sleeve first, wearing shoes first, and wearing the right foot first when entering the door of the house and the mosque.

The reason is that Muqilin uses his left hand when he is "convenient" and does dirty work. Therefore, the left hand is considered unclean, and it is extremely impolite to shake hands with others or hand over things with his left hand, and even considered insulting.

There are also some taboos in clothing. For example, according to Islamic teachings, women's "charming things" cannot be seen by others outside their husbands. Even the same sex should not see each other's shame. Therefore, short, thin, transparent and exposed clothing is forbidden. Even the baby's body should not be uncovered, and there is no public bathhouse on the street.

In Egypt, women with bare chests and backs or short skirts cannot be seen, nor men with vests and shorts.

Although Egyptians are tolerant to foreigners and are not as harsh as some Islamic countries, one thing to remind you is that in Egypt, wearing vests, shorts and miniskirts is strictly prohibited from going to mosques.

Another interesting thing is that you should not yawn. Usually, try not to yawn or sneeze in front of Egyptians. If you really can’t control it, you should turn your face and cover your mouth and say “I’m sorry”.

The Egyptians hate yawning and think that yawning is the devil's worship. A man yawns and says hurriedly as if he commits sin, "Please forgive me." Sneezing is not necessarily a bad thing. If a man sneezes before everyone, he will say, "I testify that everything is not the Lord, but Allah." And the person next to him says, "Allah loves you," and he will continue, "God will be merciful to me and everyone."

Egypt is a world-famous ancient civilization. It strictly abides by Islamic rules in diet. During Ramadan, it is fasted during the day, does not eat any taboos, nor does it eat red stewed with juice or uncooked dishes. It does not talk to people when eating, and it is prohibited to make noises when drinking hot soup and drinks. It is not allowed to come back after the food is in its mouth. It is also taboo to touch the food utensils and food with your left hand.

When the Egyptians held wedding events, they liked to hold big banquets, and in addition to inviting guests, relatives and friends. Some people who had no relationship with their hosts could also come and were also warmly treated. They were customary to first serve chocolate and fruit, then recite the Quran, eat broth, soaked buns, rice and boiled meat, and finally serve snacks and snacks.

When the Egyptians treat guests, the seats also pay attention to their identity and rank. The host is used to swearing guests to eat more, and they are very enthusiastic from beginning to end. The more dishes, the better. Even if they are served up and then served, the host and guests are very happy because this is one of the signs of generosity and hospitality.

Friends are extremely enthusiastic when they meet. Generally, when they meet someone they are not familiar with, the person who greets them first will say greetings that are common to Muslims all over the world - "Ansai Muerlei Kum" (literally translated as "peace to you", meaning "hello"). If you are an old friend, especially when you meet again after a long time, you will hug each other and give a voucher, that is, use your right hand to hold the other person's left shoulder, and hug the other person's waist with your left hand, first left and then right, each one or more times, and you will also send a string of greetings like a cannon.

If you come to visit a friend, the host will repeat once or more times, "I love Helan Usehlan Umairhap" (meaning "You meet relatives, you walk on the plains, welcome you"). Sometimes, simply, "I love Helan! I love Helan!"

Women use gentle veneer gifts more for politeness or intimacy, usually once on the right and once on the left.

The opposite sex usually shakes hands, and only relatives give vouchers. Men and women don’t shake hands. Men should not actively extend their hands. They should not cross their hands when shaking hands, that is, four people hold face to face in a "cross" shape. Men must stand up from their seats when shaking hands, while women do not have to. They can continue to sit in a chair.

Another point is that Egyptians do not avoid foreign home visits, and they even welcome foreigners to visit and take pride in them. However, visits to the opposite sex are prohibited, and even among Egyptians, male and female classmates and colleagues cannot visit each other.

Except for poverty-stricken outdoors, Egyptians have living rooms at home, and bedrooms are not welcome to outsiders as private rooms.

Although both the people in the embassy and Lu Qingtong introduced a lot to Fan Wubing about Egypt, after the other party's foreign ministry officials arrived, they were very enthusiastic about contacting Fan Wubing with Western etiquette and greetings in quite pure English.

Fan Wubing's English proficiency is still OK. He smiled and greeted him, then invited the guests to sit down and entertained him with domestic tea.

The other party was an assistant minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He first expressed a warm welcome to Fan Wubing's arrival on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the President, and then he carefully stated whether Mr. Fan could participate in an event held by the government. Or was he interested in developing several major projects in Egypt?

Fan Wubing also said sincerely that Fan's Investment Group already has the intention to invest in Egypt, and a special delegation will come to Egypt to discuss the matter soon. This time he appeared in Cairo as a private trip. However, he felt the traditional friendship between the two countries and was willing to donate one million US dollars to improve the local school environment.

The Assistant of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed high praise and gratitude to Fan Wubing for his generosity, and then he made it very friendly that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff could help Fan Wubing’s itinerary during his time in Cairo so that he could enjoy a perfect trip to Cairo.

Fan Wubing expressed his gratitude to the other party, but he also said that he didn't have much time. He just focused on visiting a few famous places and was going to African countries, so he could only appreciate the other party's kindness. If he had the chance, he would definitely disturb him next time.

After seeing off the other party, the staff of the embassy explained to Fan Wubing, "Egypt's economy has always been half-dead. Although the EU and the United States have exempted their debts of more than 20 billion US dollars in recent years, because of the excessive investment in arms and the impact of several Middle East wars, Egypt's economic situation is not good. In addition, this place is not suitable for farming, so most crops rely on imports. Although there are some crude oil, their mining capacity is not high, and other aspects are generally the case. So this time, Mr. Fan, you come here, and they still have some intention of attracting investment."

When Fan Wubing heard this, he shook his head and said, "I don't think so."

If you really want to attract investment, at least the president should come to welcome you in person and hold a grand banquet to welcome you. Isn’t this disgusting?

Fan Wubing enjoys treatment at home is also ministerial level. Judging from the size of a small country like Egypt, it is a bit unreasonable to send foreign ministers to talks, let alone a deputy?

Understand this, Fan Wubing naturally has no good feelings for the local government, let alone investing?

After all, this is still a question of respect or not. Men, when living outside, they always have to pay attention to face. Especially when they brought Lu Qingtong out for the first time, Fan Wubing naturally could not have lost his value too much.

"I used to visit Southeast Asia, and the kings or presidents were welcomed by themselves-" When talking about this, Fan Wubing said to Lu Qingtong. After saying that, he still felt a little unsatisfied, so he said to Lu Qingtong again. "When I go back from Africa, I will take a walk to Indonesia and let you meet their president, well, a very enthusiastic person."

Although Lu Qingtong had no idea about this, after hearing Fan Wubing's words, it seemed that Indonesian presidents were like Fan Wubing's younger brothers. He couldn't help but be curious. After asking carefully, he learned that Fan's investment group's power in Indonesia and what Fan Wubing did in Indonesia when Habibi came to power, and he immediately understood.

After all, it is still a matter of interest. It is precisely because Fan Wubing lent the Indonesian government 50 billion US dollars and has a large amount of investment in Indonesia. At the same time, he also has some very critical quasi-military forces. It is the power that Habibi needs to borrow, so he can get Habibi's VIP treatment, which is equivalent to a head of state.

In small and poor countries like Egypt, Fan Investment Group has no business dealings or interest relations. Therefore, although Egypt also hopes to attract Fan Investment Group's investment, the hope is not very large, so the scale of the reception is only at the ministerial level.

It should be said that this is not considered as not paying attention to it. After all, Fan Wubing came to Egypt just for a way and had no intention of an official visit. Therefore, it was already good that the other party sent an assistant minister to show his friendship.

The mistake is that they don’t quite understand the Chinese people’s minds and underestimate Fan Wubing’s huge influence. If the attitude can be more correct, the visitors can be higher, the attitude is more enthusiastic, and the hospitality is more thoughtful. In that case, Fan Wubing must immediately agree to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Egypt to express his views, or if there are appropriate projects, he might have to take more major measures.

What a pity, it's a pity.

Fan Wubing was a little interested in the life of ordinary people in Egypt, so he took a few bodyguards with Lu Qingtong and took a walk on the streets under the leadership of the embassy staff. Sure enough, the feeling here gave him a bit messy, a bit like the feeling of a domestic market in the 1980s.

Fan Wubing and others were walking around a craft store. While watching and playing with the small crafts, they suddenly found that the owner hurriedly covered some of the counters. I wonder what the purpose was?

"Oh, there must be needles in that counter." The embassy responded immediately when he heard Fan Wubing ask.

"There is an needle? What does that mean?" Fan Wubing didn't understand what was said here.

So the staff of the embassy explained to Fan Wubing. After hearing this, everyone suddenly realized and thought that this was the case.

Needles are tools for sewing clothes, almost a must-have daily necessities for every family, but they have a bit of mysterious color in the minds of Egyptians.

Every afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00, the Egyptians never sell needles, which has become an unwritten precept in their lives.

According to legend, at this time of day, a god descends to earth to give people some necessities of life, but the gods have to personally understand people's respective situations. The richer people will receive more rewards; the poorer people will receive less rewards. The poor people will always thread needles and stitch them all day long. In order to save the poor from difficulties for life, people will never sell needles at this time.

Under the influence of this myth, some people in Egypt did not even dare to do needlework at night, otherwise they would think it would bring disaster to their mothers. Some women in rural areas also regard borrowing needles as a taboo. When they have to borrow, the lender would insert the needle into bread and hand it to the borrower. The borrower would not dare to take out the needle with his hands in person.

Acupuncture sometimes becomes a verbal word for some women to scold each other. If a woman is scolded as an injection, she will feel as if she has suffered a great shame and is in vain.

Today, needles still have their unique and legendary status in the minds of Egyptians. The taboos for needles have also been passed down, becoming a custom among Egyptian people.
Chapter completed!