12.22.07
It’s Christmas in Chicago…and Fuzhou!
Now is the time of year when the snow if falling, houses are decorated with holly and Christmas lights, and the radio waves are filled with Christmas music. Christmas is in the air in Chicago. In Fuzhou, a modestly-sized Chinese capital city with a tiny foreigner population, Christmas is in the air as well…well, everything except for the snow.
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Several Santa Clauses greet customers outside a Fuzhou storefront
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Christmas in Fuzhou is no longer a foreign festival that children read about in social studies books—it’s a local phenomenon as well. If Fuzhou, a 40 foot Christmas tree is erected every year in front of the (or I should say “one of the 3?”) KFCs in Dong Jie Kou, Fuzhou’s central shopping district. Storefronts are lined with holly, and novelty snow, and shoppers as well as store employees can be seen wearing red Santa hats. It’s now not uncommon for Fuzhou residents nowadays to purchase Christmas cards and Christmas gifts, and sign their e-mails and QQ greetings with “Merry Christmas.”
For me, Christmas in China was always an awkward time. As a Jew, I have never celebrated Christmas, and this came as quite a disappointment to many of my Chinese friends. Even when I would explain that the reason I do not celebrate Christmas is that I am not a Christian, this would do little to answer the curiosity. The general perception of Christmas in China is that it is a Western holiday, and not necessarily connected with religion. Based on the commercialization of Christmas in the US, it’s not surprising that many Chinese have drawn this conclusion.
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Trust Mart employees sport their special Christmas uniforms.
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The boom in Chinese Christmas celebration has coincided with the seemingly diminishing relevance of the Chinese Spring Festival. While Spring Festival is still the most prominent holiday on the Chinese calendar, it’s significance has been slowly diminishing, especially in the cities. Not so surprisingly, it is also in the cities where Christmas celebration is most common, especially among China’s youth. Will there come a day when the Spring Festival is supplanted by Christmas? My guess is probably not anytime soon. But with the speed of globalization, who knows what it will be like in another 100 years?
canrun
said,
December 23, 2007 at 12:47 am
And interesting factoid: Christmas trees have been banned in the lovely town which I call home. I have my deep suspicions as to the actual reasons why. Nothing happens around here without an ulterior motive…
Can anyone say “harmonious society”??
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071220/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_china_grinch
羲
said,
December 25, 2007 at 3:20 am
i think the significance of the Chinese Spring Festival will not be suppled by Christmas day forever.
many youth people think a lot of romantic, so when the christmas day’s coming, maybe they are more excited than the wrikly and older people.
but the Chinese culture decide the Spring Festival will be the firt in the Chinese people’s heart.
Matt Miles
said,
December 26, 2007 at 1:34 am
Chinese go in for the western things, especially if theres a lot of.. well i call it tack, others, decoration. Take the Chinese valentines day for example which I believe is the 7th of the 7th month? Well anyway, whilst adopting the tack that inevitably comes with Christmas and Valentines day, the celebrating of the Christmas day is essentially empty and devoid of ‘true christmas spirit’ although you could argue that’s becoming more and more true in the west. For a country where ‘tradition’ is brought up everyday and almost persistantly on TV i don’t see the western celebration of Christmas in China taking of in any significat sense.
Shamu
said,
December 28, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Ben,
Christmas, like everything else western that was promoted mainly by commercial forces, has taken on new meanings when imported to China. As you observed, the celebration is more commercial than cultural or religious. That makes it completely different from other traditional Chinese holidays. Unlike in the US, where celebrating an ethnic holiday or custom is hoped to lead to more understanding of a different culture, in China, this is almost all driven by commercial interests and pays little tribute to the original meaning of the holiday. It does little to enhance understanding. Maybe to the opposite, it adds more misunderstanding by sending the wrong message about the holiday. Sometimes, knowing something at the surface is worse than knowing nothing at all.
Coincidentally, if you haven’t noticed, there is another piece written by a fellow American Jew about his Christmas experience in China by Alan Paul at the WSJ’s The Expat Life column.
Shamu
owshawng
said,
December 28, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Christmas seems pretty commercialized in the US too. Much more then Australia is.
I knew of Taiwanese and Chinese who are not Christians who want to get married in US churches because they think the churches look romantic. Westerners do the same thing with Asian culture and religion. I bet we all know surfers or stoners with a yin-yang tatto., or hanzi gibberish that they think has some deep meaning.
McBetty
said,
December 28, 2007 at 9:27 pm
No Christmas tree is Fuzhou. This is my 4th Christmas in Fuzhou and the first year people are not able to buy the 5RMB ornament that they write their prayers and place on the 40-foot tree for the “god” Father Christmas to answer. I think the notoriety of Christmas is fading here in Fuzhou. It is not new to the locals and I think to the dismay of the shopping mall that sells the 5rmb ornament, someone told them that Santa is not real nor a God.
Christmas now is just another western holiday they have brought into their culture. They celebrate all these holidays pretty much in the same manner; go out to eat, get drunk and have fun.
I see a big push by local Chinese and the Chinese government to focus on Traditional Chinese holidays. This year was the first to have the holiday dongzhi recognized and given the day off from work. Christmas is a workday here, yet New Years Eve and Day are holidays at most multinationals.
coljac
said,
January 3, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Surely it’s a stretch to portray Christmas in the West as a solemn religious occasion. Neither I nor my family are Christian, but we still celebrate Christmas with presents and a family get together. Perhaps Thanksgiving takes this role in the US, but in the rest of the West (such as Australia) Christmas is near enough to secular.
Tao
said,
January 15, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I doubt chinese spring festival would fade away. I guess the reason why young people are not so excited about it is because it is family holiday. Most shops would close over the period. There is nothing much to do except visiting relatives and dining at home. I am not sure about the young kids now. But I would not visit anyone not related for more than just saying “happy new year”. It is sort of rude for disturbing their family time.
Paul
said,
February 8, 2008 at 10:46 am
Have no worries about the Spring festival. It’s gonna be kept alive and well in Chinese hearts for a long time to come
I celebrate both Christmas and the Spring Festival and do both with equal fervour.