Hello,Jack,
Nice to hear from you.If you want to know more about Chinese customs,I strongly suggest you to have a trip here,as the manners differ in different region of China.Now I will introduce something most common and general here.When people meet for the first time,we always just say hi,instead of a hand shake in American.People here are more care about privacy.We prefer to live all my ourselves.Relationship between neighborhoods is not so close as you American does.Therefore,do not feel uneasy if your neighbors just not talking to you.Manners are really interest topic.Maybe we can get a deep discussion in the forthcoming e-mails.
With regards,