Dreaming of a Red Christmas

Two years ago, a group of PhD students at some of China’s most prestigious universities made headlines when they created an online petition decrying the prevalence of Christmas.  To them, Christmas was another example of how the Chinese were blindly following Western culture to the detriment of their own tradtional culture.  While the students may not have been able to stop the tide of Christmas celebrations–especially from eager retailers who are just as happy to cash in on this sadly consumerist holiday as their Western counterparts–the petition sparked a lively debate on the place of Christmas and other foreign holidays in China.

Yet bemoaning the onslaught of Western culture is only one part of the story. To get an idea of what other impressions of Christmas were out there, I asked several Chinese friends what they thought of Christmas, and their answers were all quite varied and interesting.  (Mind you, this was a completely unscientific poll of a very small group of people that can hardly be representative of China as a whole.)

What do you think of Christmas?

A:Christmas does mean something to me. It means other people’s festival. It’s nice to share the festival atmosphere – well, to treat myself a little something using every excuse.

B: The time to get really fat and lazy within reason.

C: I like it. I think it is counterpart of Chinese spring festival in western country.

D: Christmas is the season celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ .

E: When you are in China but working for a European company, it means you don’t need to work hard, or work at all from Christmas to New Year. Then you have a reason to get together with friends and treat yourself a nice meal. But it’s not always good when your Chinese friends have to work and foreign friends are gone for the holiday.

F: Maybe I can tell you a bit about what a Hong Konger thinks.

Christmas means:
- lots of really great decoration in the shopping malls
- lots of Christmas sales
- lots of follies sold in places like CitySuper

G: Christmas is great because I work for a US company and get one day off.

H: I personally don’t care about any festival, Spring Festival included, So I don’t celebrate Christmas or any other festivals. But I’d love to get together with friends in the name of festivals, if they want to. Just don’t push it as when it becomes a burden, it’d be less fun.

I: The friendship and family is more important than any festivals. but i want tell yo more. actually, there is different meaning to Chinese. I mean the different holiday/festival, the X’mas, the New year, the spring festival. we have no X’mas holiday in China now, but we have at least 3 days off for new year holiday,and a week for spring festival. then you can see the difference. Chinese pay more attention for the spring festival, then the new year, the X’mas is the final one. and we have no special plans for X’mas either. maybe the X’mas holiday is more important for the business aim.

J: It’s a traditional western holiday for family reunion, but now it’s accepted everywhere on this planet, and it’s been commercialized already.

Do you celebrate it in any way? If you do celebrate it, what do you do?

A: To celebrate, I hang a red sock on my wall at home(as well as a skull from Halloween, actually that one is my favorite and I never take it off). I wear a red scarf. I also have a nice meal(well, maybe a Chinese meal) with a bit friends. Also, one thing I think I should mention is that Chinese people like to eat an apple on Christmas eve, Ping An Ye(平安夜) because pingguo shares the first syllable with it.

B: Depends if I get Christmas holidays. Eat a lot.

C: I do. if I have time, I will go out to eat with friends and buy gifts to friends or send cards to friends. In the past of two years, I used to go to my Canadian friend’s house to have a ginger bread making party and watch Christmas movies. I think if Chinese people really want to feel and know Christmas, it is good to celebrate it with their foreign friends and it is also good chance to know their culture.

D: We have kinda celebrating party among our fellowship,like Performance.

E: I usually get together with friends and exchange presents. My parents are totally ignorant to Christmas from any aspect so there’s no family getting together.

Eat and relax.

F:
- Buying lots of presents, especially things that a sensible human being doesn’t need and won’t buy if it’s not because of the music and decoration in the shopping malls
- Laughing with friends about the gifts I gave them last year, which are now covered with dust and spider web
- Getting drunk with friends while our parents watch TV at home as usual
- On the Christmas day, we have the routine of having dim sum with families in the morning. So you see, we are a truly east meets west place!

G: Usually I don’t get involved in any of the consumerism celebrations happening in major cities worldwide.This year I am having a Christmas dinner with a Beijing-based Jewish group.

J: Yes, why not. Never get tired of holidays. I’m Chinese, so I don’t care if there is any Santa or not. I think it’d be too hypocrite if Chinese people celebrate it as a serious formal holiday. I’d like to just hang out with lots of friends, do some normal stuff, drink, relax, with a Xmas theme. We always need a theme for holiday, right?

Here’s an old episode of Sexy Beijing that interviews several Chinese passers-by on what they think of Christmas and if they’ve ever heard of Hannukah.  Despite the grand American Jewish tradition of going out for Chinese food on Christmas, the feeling isn’t reciprocated: Chinese folks in Beijing are as familiar with Hannukah as Americans would be familiar with Tomb Sweeping Day.

Image originally from China.org.cn

Fiona Lee is a freelance writer/marketer/blogger based in Beijing. She blogs at quirkyBeijing.com