The New York Times has an amusing article about how kisses are seen in different cultures and over time. The Germans and Chinese seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum:
The German language has words for 30 different kinds of kisses, including nachküssen, which is defined as a kiss “making up for kisses that have been omitted.” (The Germans are also said to have coined the inexplicable phrase “A kiss without a beard is like an egg without salt.”) […] To this day, public kissing is still seen as indecent in many parts of the world. In 1990, the Beijing-based Workers’ Daily advised its readers that “the invasive Europeans brought the kissing custom to China, but it is regarded as a vulgar practice which is all too suggestive of cannibalism.”
Do you want salt with that kiss? The Chinese perspective seems like a cross between Freud and Darwin. More interesting, I think, is that the article tries to tie the emotive/relational character of a kiss to the success and safety of commuters.
Whatever its origins, kissing seems to be advantageous. A study conducted during the 1980’s found that men who kiss their wives before leaving for work live longer, get into fewer car accidents, and have a higher income than married men who don’t.
I am not from Germany, but from Austria. Here in Austria I’ve never heard the verb “nachküssen”. I can’t even find many references of it in the German web. The only one (that counts for me) is in the Grimm brothers’ dictionary which is rather old. But–as an old saying here goes–the only difference between Germany and Austria is our common language.