People in China today are more accustomed to address their peers by their English names or directly calling their Chinese names, rather than by employing the term "comrade" -- a word used to address others in socialist Chinese society of the past half century.

A recent survey on "how you address your peers or bosses" conducted by Zhaopin.com, one of China's influential web sites, showed that 66 percent of Chinese employees call their peers by full name or simply given name, Seventeen percent call their peers with their English names, 5 percent like to address their colleagues "brothers" or "sisters", while only 1 percent is still inclined to use the term "comrade".

The sample survey picked nearly 6,000 respondents from governmental departments, foreign companies and state-owned enterprises.

Most staffers working in foreign businesses, usually address others with English names like Joey, Ross or Monica, which have become well-known among Chinese employees after the popularization of "Friends", the American sit-com.

The survey also showed that 33 percent respondents address their bosses or those responsible with their titles.
 
At their social gatherings, 65 percent of respondents addressed others by the titles on their business cards. 31 percent respondents called others "Ms", "Madam" or "Mr". Only one percent called others "comrade".

Nearly 30 percent of the respondents surveyed agreed that properly addressing others in the office and on public occasions would somewhat help build up a kind of harmonious relations with those addressed.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2005)