Noted with thanks.

Old business acquaintainces might sound much more socially intimate than they really are, because friendships are an importance basis for business transactions. Friends might sound more formal than they really are, if one or both of them are extremely polite or gentlemenly people.

This is especially true in old films, or Chinese jidai-geki (ancient costumes dramas), where social ettiquette is much more developed and prevalent. It is impossible to know how close people really are, unless you take into account their body language, tone of voice, setting & etc.

Just my two cents worth. I’m Chinese but not native, so I do not know what the social trends are like in China. My personal view is that people tend to sound a lot closer than they really are.

Yes, that sounds like a good example of what I meant.

It seems to be pretty common amongst my transplant friends, for them to give their westernized names first, then gradually using their birth-given names after becoming closer to new friends.

I wonder. What historical or social context did your example of “honorable Mr Li.” appear? There used to be equivalents of “honorable Mr” in pre-modern China, like gong zi [公子] or da ren [大人], and “honorable Mr Li” would be li gong zi [李公子] or li da ren [李大人]. But these are not used these days except in jest.

But speaking of how people call each other, I have observed a trend among Chinese businesspersons that they “assume” an English name as part of their business identity and reserve their Chinese names for use among family and old friends. You never really call them “Financial Chief Chan” or something like that, you just call them by their English names, like “Bob” or “Phil”. It is like having two layers of identity – like sectioning off one’s public and private self. When two CFOs from the PRC meet each other, for example, they would most likely be addressing each other with English names even though they converse in Putonghua/Mandarin the entire time. I rarely saw anything like that from Japanese businesspersons.

I was experimenting with how to get less spam messages. I have turned the login requirement off now…

Does what you talk about somewhat relate with the Japanese habit of calling people by their function (mom, chief, teacher, etc.) instead of their names ?
What happens when two people of equal status (for example in a competition between two sport clubs) meet for the first time ?

BTW, I think the fact you have to login before posting discourages 90% of potential commentators…