The Battle of the Buffet

We attended a Christmas Eve "Gala" dinner at a Shanghai hotel tonight. The best part of the evening was the lovable rosy-cheeked little girls that sang Christmas songs and danced. While they sang Silent Night I thought about the contrast with 30 years ago when little girls like these were singing Madame Mao's revolutionary songs and wearing army uniforms and dancing with rifles. Oh, Mao, how I wish you could have been there tonight!

The not so enjoyable part of the evening was the meat-laden Chinese food, the cigarette smoke and the pushing and shoving at the buffet. There must have been over a hundred buffet items and the mango cheesecake was the only thing close to vegetarian. Anyone familiar with Shanghai would not be surprised that there was no buffet "line" to be found but the ferocity of the patrons pushing to get to the food surprised me. I had to throw my shirt into the wash as soon as I got home least the sauce and wine stains that had been slopped on me dried too hard. The chunks of sea creatures, pigs and cows that had become lodged in the folds of my clothing were easier to remove.