Chinese grammar: Result complement 起来-qilai

起来 (qǐlái) comes up very frequently in Chinese and can be used both literally and figuratively. This is a little like the usage of "up" in English which can be used literally, as in "stand up", or figuratively, as in "add up".

Expressing an upward movement:
起来 can be used to express an upward movement like "up", as in the English examples of "stand up" or "pick up."

Qǐnɡ dà jiā zhàn qǐ lái.
请大家 站 起来 。

Please stand up.

Expressing bringing things together

起来 can be used to express collecting things together, wher in English we might say "tidy up", or "add up".

Tā bǎ yī fu dōu shōu qǐ lái le.
他 把 衣服 都收 起来 了。

He put away his clothes.

Expressing an initial judgement

起来 can also be used to express a preliminary judgement. 起来 is used here to express that the speaker has only just initiated an action, and based on that, has made a quick judgement. It is used in the following structure:
subject+verb+起来+Adjective

This expresses that the subject seems adjective when the action of the verb is performed. This structure is frequently used with perception verbs such as 看, 听, 尝 etc.
Some examples:

Tā kàn qǐ lái hěn yóu hǎo.
他 看 起来 很 友好。

He looks very friendly.