Editing Chinese name (section)

== Forms of address ==
Within families, it is often considered inappropriate or even offensive to use the given names of relatives who are senior to the speaker. Instead, it is more customary to identify each family member by abstract hierarchical connections: among siblings, gender and birth order (big sister, second sister, and so on); for the extended family, the manner of relationship (by birth or marriage; from the maternal or paternal side).

The hierarchical titles of junior relatives are seldom used except in formal situations, or as indirect reference when speaking to family members who are even younger than the person in question. Children can be called by their given names, or their parents may use their nicknames.

When speaking of non-family social acquaintances, people are generally referred to by a title, for example Mother Li ({{zh|t=李妈妈|p=lǐ māma|c=}}) or Mrs. Zhu ({{zhi|c=朱太太}}, {{zh|p=zhū tàitai}}). Personal names can be used when referring to adult friends or to children, although, unlike in the West, referring to somebody by their full name (including surname) is common even among friends, especially if the person's full name is only composed of two or three syllables.  It is common to refer to a person as ''lǎo'' ({{zhi|c=老}}, old) or ''xiǎo'' ({{zhi|c=小}}, young) followed by their family name, thus Lǎo Wáng ({{zhi|c=老王}}) or Xiǎo Zhān ({{lang|zh-hant|小战}}).  Xiǎo is also frequently used as a diminutive, when it is typically paired with the second or only character in a person's name, rather than the surname.  Because old people are well respected in Chinese society, ''lǎo'' (old) does not carry disrespect, offense or any negative implications even if it is used to refer to an older woman.  Despite this, it is advisable for non-Chinese to avoid calling a person xiǎo-something or lǎo-something unless they are so-called by other Chinese people and it is clear that the appellation is acceptable and widely used.  Otherwise, the use of the person's full name, or alternatively, their surname followed by  {{zhp|c=先生|l=mister|p=xiānsheng}} or {{zhp|p=nǚshì|c=女士|l=madam}} is relatively neutral and unlikely to cause offense.

Within school settings and when addressing former classmates, it is common to refer to them as older siblings, e.g. elder brother Zhao ({{zhi|c=赵哥|p=Zhào Gē}}) or e.g. elder sister Zhang ({{zh|labels=no|t=张姐|p=Zhāng Jǐe|c=}}) if they were of senior classes, or simply to show respect or closeness. The opposite (e.g. younger brother Zhao) is rarely used. This custom spawns from traditional forms of respectful address, where it was considered rude to directly address your seniors.

Whereas titles in many cultures are commonly solely determined by gender and, in some cases, marital status, the occupation or even work title of a person can be used as a title as a sign of respect in common address in Chinese culture. Because of the prestigious position of a teacher in traditional culture, a teacher is invariably addressed as such by his or her students (e.g. {{zh|labels=no|c=李老师|p=Lǐ Lǎoshī|l=Teacher Li}}), and commonly by others as a mark of respect. Where applicable, "Teacher Surname" is considered more respectful than "Mr/Mrs/Miss Surname" in Chinese. A professor is also commonly addressed as "teacher", though "professor" is also accepted as a respectful title. By extension, a junior or less experienced member of a work place or profession would address a more senior member as "Teacher".

Similarly, engineers are often addressed as such, though often shortened to simply the first character of the word "engineer" – {{zh|c=工|p=gōng}}. Should the person being addressed be the head of a company (or simply the middle manager of another company to whom you would like to show respect), one might equally address them by the title "zǒng" ({{zh|labels=no|t=总|c=|p=}}), which means "general" or "overall", and is the first character of titles such as "Director General" or "general manager" (e.g. {{zh|labels=no|t=李总|p=Lǐ zǒng|c=}}), or, if they are slightly lower down on the corporate hierarchy but nonetheless a manager, by affixing Jīnglǐ ({{zh|labels=no|t=经理|c=|p=}}, manager).