Thanksgiving in Shanghai
It's Thanksgiving but this American holiday hasn't caught on in China yet. The only evidence of Thanksgiving I can find in Shanghai are the hotel and expat restaurants that are stepping in to supply the turkey needs of expat Americans in the city. With 16,000 Americans in Shanghai there's got to be enough to fill a few buffet lines.
Even the "American" school in Shanghai doesn't observe Thanksgiving - or any other American holidays for that matter. The only offices that shut down for Thanksgiving are those of the U.S. Consulate. Too bad, China could really use a day that's dedicated to giving thanks or at least counting blessings. Now I should note that Canadians also have their own Thanksgiving which is observed on the second Monday of October but their holiday doesn't have the gravitas of the U.S. holiday - although it's the thought that counts, right?
Then there's the lack of football (real football, North American football, that is) on tv to gather around while everyone digests their tofurky. In earlier years it was a pleasure to watch Peavine U. play Platte U. on Thanksgiving but can't do that in China - even if Platte U. was still half the team it used to be.
UPDATE: We did the Marriott Thanksgiving Dinner deal which turned out to be quite good. For 388 rmb each of us had all the food we could eat - which was vast quantities for some of us. Marriott provided the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and dressing plus some not-so-traditional sushi and crab. Those of us who don't eat things that had mamas had all the potatoes, carrots, ice cream and pies we could hold. The only thing missing was of course the extended family and football - two very important ingredients of Thanksgiving.
One thing we did have that was unexpected was Santa Claus. He made the rounds of the tables handing out cookies. Santa was Chinese so we should cut him some slack for showing up at the wrong holiday. He had a hard time with English as well so I think some of the expat children that told him what they wanted for Christmas may be a bit surprised with what Santa leaves for them.
Even the "American" school in Shanghai doesn't observe Thanksgiving - or any other American holidays for that matter. The only offices that shut down for Thanksgiving are those of the U.S. Consulate. Too bad, China could really use a day that's dedicated to giving thanks or at least counting blessings. Now I should note that Canadians also have their own Thanksgiving which is observed on the second Monday of October but their holiday doesn't have the gravitas of the U.S. holiday - although it's the thought that counts, right?
Then there's the lack of football (real football, North American football, that is) on tv to gather around while everyone digests their tofurky. In earlier years it was a pleasure to watch Peavine U. play Platte U. on Thanksgiving but can't do that in China - even if Platte U. was still half the team it used to be.
UPDATE: We did the Marriott Thanksgiving Dinner deal which turned out to be quite good. For 388 rmb each of us had all the food we could eat - which was vast quantities for some of us. Marriott provided the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and dressing plus some not-so-traditional sushi and crab. Those of us who don't eat things that had mamas had all the potatoes, carrots, ice cream and pies we could hold. The only thing missing was of course the extended family and football - two very important ingredients of Thanksgiving.
One thing we did have that was unexpected was Santa Claus. He made the rounds of the tables handing out cookies. Santa was Chinese so we should cut him some slack for showing up at the wrong holiday. He had a hard time with English as well so I think some of the expat children that told him what they wanted for Christmas may be a bit surprised with what Santa leaves for them.
posted by Kevcham at 11:17 PM
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