How do I say 'nice to meet you'?

很高兴认识你 is a well-calibrated phrase: warm without being overly intimate, polite without being stiff. It fits friend introductions, professional networking, and everything between.

The real social fluency comes in what you say next. Chinese introductions tend to move quickly into finding common ground — where the person is from, how they know the mutual friend, what they do — rather than lingering on the greeting itself. A bare 很高兴认识你 followed by silence is technically correct but socially incomplete.

幸会 belongs to a different register. Using it at a casual party sounds like you wandered in from a diplomatic reception. Reserve it for meeting senior business figures, officials, or elders in formal contexts. 久仰 goes even further — it is nearly a performance of politeness, appropriate when you genuinely mean “I’ve heard your name for years.”