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It can happen to anyone. You want to greet someone with more than a handshake but less than a hug. So you go for the compromise -- a peck on the cheek. But just as you're leaning in, the person turns her head, and suddenly your nose is poking her in the eye.

Pulling off a casual social kiss is not as easy as it looks. But despite the awkwardness, the social kiss is replacing the customary handshake.

Whether it's due to the growing influence of European manners or just a breakdown of formality, we can all use a quick how-to lesson.

Here to give us the basics of the social kiss is China Drive Features Correspondent Su Xiaowei.

I generally never kiss anyone I'm meeting for the first time, but if someone offers a kiss, then I have to be polite and take it. I always thought a kiss is too intimate for a first meeting but if it's done naturally, then it can feel less business-like than the handshake.

Social kissing may have roots going back to Roman times. In the early decades of the 20th century, it was mostly seen among the aristocracy and spread gradually after World War II. There's no real set formula for social kissing. The French, for example, kiss on both cheeks -- one kiss each -- although in a few regions it is the double-double kiss with two on each cheek. The Belgians, the Dutch and even the Swiss go for the triple kiss.

In most countries the social kiss begins with the right cheek, so position your face just slightly to the side, then wait and see what the other person is going to do. That slight turn of the head can take you past the lip and the cheek.

While the handshake still holds sway in big corporations, the kiss has seeped into areas like sales. Figuring out where the limits are can present problems. I'd say it's better to steer clear of kissing people of the opposite sex, which can be misconstrued in some cases. Later, kissing as a greeting depends on the relationship.

But if being pecked on the cheek is way too intimate, some advise that sticking your hand out firmly -- keeping a straight elbow -- is the best way to show yourself willing to shake hands and nothing more. So say someone is coming towards you for the kiss, take a step back and then put your hand out in front of you, turn left and keep going in one continuous movement.

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