Christmas in China

I honestly had not given any thought to whether or not the Chinese celebrated Christmas until I started seeing the holiday decorations and hearing the Christmas music.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen Christmas everywhere around the city.  Although the government does not support Christmas, it is gaining popularity among the wealthier youth in Chinese cities.  They don’t have Christmas trees in their apartments or family Christmas parties, but they are exchanging gifts with friends during the holiday season.  Although Shanghai definitely does not have “Christmas in the air,” there are a surprising amount of Christmas elements throughout the city.

At the end of November, Christmas decorations started going up first at the big malls followed by Santa Clause posters in many local restaurants and shops.  There is not much garland or green in the decorations, it’s mostly reds/silvers/whites with lights.  The award for “Most Chinese” decorations must go to Plaza 66, a shopping mall with every luxury brand imaginable next to my office on Nangjing Xi Lu.  Outisde of the mall, they have dozens of small, lit—only in red—fake trees, two massive sleighs with reindeer that were only made of lights, and then a massive, hollow, metal Christmas tree.  I’m not sure if the scene was supposed to be avant-garde or if they just misinterpreted Christmas decorations.
I’ve also noticed a fair amount of Christmas music in the decorated malls, but also playing in restaurants and small stores.  They play the standard Christmas carols in English, the remakes by Celine Dion (who they love here), but they also have Christmas carols sung in Chinese.  I didn’t believe my ears when I heard “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” in Chinese.
Christmas is just one more sign of the globalization that has shaped so much of this nation.