Just my personal point of view from France.

Hi Lily, thank you for this interesting topic.

Note that I'm 56 old.

With French people, let me tell you some practices.

<em>Here, I am not talking about of the "French kiss", just kiss on cheeks.</em>

In tne family... it's mandatory to kiss each other (even between man, for exemple I kiss my brother on his cheeks... but not my son in law).

Between friends, except between man (woman - woman, man - woman), it's natural to kiss each other. Between men, it's a handshake.

In business, it's different. The professional attitude is a handshake.

First, with you colleagues, except between man (woman - woman, man - woman), you can kiss each other depending on the entreprise culture. Basically, I don't kiss my (female) colleagues but in some companies, I did it.

And, with you customer... never, just a handshake.

If you are very friendly with your customer (never between man), same school, or it's a member of your family :), in some cases, they can kiss each other but not at the beginning of a business meeting front of your boss. 

In France, we are very concerned by this practice. In France there are several web sites which show how many kiss on the check you have to do accordint to the place in France... and if you have to start with the left cheek or the right cheek !

Please, look at this. Sorry, it is in French but with the map, it is understandable. http://combiendebises.free.fr/

Last point, in the situation of international business contact, especially with people from out of Europe, I think that French will not (never) kiss it's partner. Just because we are award of "international etiquette" especially when your partner is a woman and from Asia.

Note that in some industries: art, movies, fashion, cosmetics... the practive can be different.

With French people, 

Note that you can do both. You can first give a handshake, and during this handshake say "Can we kiss each other ?".

You can refuse to kiss your French partner just by giving your hand first and say "According to our etiquette, I can't kiss my customer". He or she will understand.

I hope this was usefull.

Have a good trip Lily.

再见  - José - 周永和 

Is a kiss on the cheek normal when people say good-bye in your country?

I'm a salesman in an export business, and this is the second time that my customer kissed me on cheek when we said good-bye to each other. The first time it was a girl, the second time it was a guy. I am Chinese, as you may know. Chinese don't normally kiss each other, so I felt a little awkward but I do know that in some countries they do this. I would like to know if is this normal in your country? In what kind of circumstances people will do this?