Christmas in Shanghai
Shanghai's expat population is down considerably this week as many Westerners have gone on vacation for the holidays. Western food restaurants are pleasantly uncrowded for a change. Christmas came and went before I hardly realized it. It's not because I didn't have plenty of reminders - there are Christmas decorations everywhere in Shanghai. Almost every business has a Santa Claus in the window and every department store features extravagant Christmas decorations. Waitresses in restaurants wore Santa hats and said Merry Christmas to patrons. Try as they might, I'm afraid it all was missing the spirit of Christmas. It's even more of a commercial promotion here than in the West.
What is an odd contrast with the States however are the religious songs played in the McDonalds, the malls and department stores of Shanghai. To most of the Chinese, these are Christmas songs, but when I asked them about the meanings of the songs only one person understood the song's content. Most of the Chinese aren't tuned in to the religious diversity of the West either. A couple of my Chinese acquaintances couldn't understand why Jews don't celebrate Christmas and some of my Jewish friends here seemed a bit frazzled by all the "Merry Christmas" greetings thrown their way by Chinese co-workers and waitresses that thought they were being seasonally appropriate.
Of course there are many Chinese Christians here and the numbers are growing despite the Government's efforts to limit proselytizing and church openings. There's also some pretty strong anti-Christian feelings. One young Chinese office professional told me she liked foreign Christians but couldn't stand Chinese Christians. "They're just like the Red Guard of the 1960s," she said.
Shanghai's expat population is down considerably this week as many Westerners have gone on vacation for the holidays. Western food restaurants are pleasantly uncrowded for a change. Christmas came and went before I hardly realized it. It's not because I didn't have plenty of reminders - there are Christmas decorations everywhere in Shanghai. Almost every business has a Santa Claus in the window and every department store features extravagant Christmas decorations. Waitresses in restaurants wore Santa hats and said Merry Christmas to patrons. Try as they might, I'm afraid it all was missing the spirit of Christmas. It's even more of a commercial promotion here than in the West.
What is an odd contrast with the States however are the religious songs played in the McDonalds, the malls and department stores of Shanghai. To most of the Chinese, these are Christmas songs, but when I asked them about the meanings of the songs only one person understood the song's content. Most of the Chinese aren't tuned in to the religious diversity of the West either. A couple of my Chinese acquaintances couldn't understand why Jews don't celebrate Christmas and some of my Jewish friends here seemed a bit frazzled by all the "Merry Christmas" greetings thrown their way by Chinese co-workers and waitresses that thought they were being seasonally appropriate.
Of course there are many Chinese Christians here and the numbers are growing despite the Government's efforts to limit proselytizing and church openings. There's also some pretty strong anti-Christian feelings. One young Chinese office professional told me she liked foreign Christians but couldn't stand Chinese Christians. "They're just like the Red Guard of the 1960s," she said.
posted by Kevcham at 6:20 AM
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