Let me step back for a moment. China is a country with no central faith or overriding dogma in the middle of a massive rehabilitation as it replaces socialist idealism with pragmatism. The Chinese have recently brought back much of their culture and tradition that was nearly destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but when China opened up in the 1980s, it also quickly began to Westernize. The stigma attached to foreign products and styles has reversed and today I can walk into any one of Beijing's many KFCs with a group of English speaking teenagers flashing their Prada & Gucci accessories while listening to Snoop Dogg on their new iPhones. A taste for Western fashion, culture and technology is not uncommon among people around the world who have spending money. And since no Chinese company can match the marketing power of brands like Nike and Coca Cola, Chinese shop and restaurant owners have no choice but to stay competitive by satisfying the growing demand. This is Westernization 101 and everybody is aware of this trend of assimilation making the world ever smaller.
But China has moved on to Westernization 102. A great way to make even more money than selling Western goods is selling Western holidays – primarily those that have become highly commercialized (aka Christmas and Valentine’s Day). Practically every business in Beijing has the same Santa poster on its front door, a tacky seizure-conducive lighting display, or a small army of fuwuyuan, waiters and waitresses, wearing Santa hats.
When I asked my students (mostly young adults) what they knew about Christmas, they delivered the whole spiel about Santa and receiving presents in a sock and of course eating Christmas dinner (a recent phenomenon among young urban Chinese). But when I questioned them about the origins of Christmas, they were dumbstruck. Trying to hint that it was a religious holiday, I asked them what group of people celebrated Christmas. A few responded with “foreigners celebrate Christmas, it’s a foreigner holiday.” The Chinese have taken the Christ out of Christmas completely and more importantly there are no real Christmas trees, no ovens to bake Christmas cookies, and no one has even heard of Macaulay Culkin. Bah Humbug!
I think the Chinese are confused. Should I pray to Buddha first and then wish myself a Merry Christmas (on the banner) or vice-versa?
The Christmas tree (or the appearance of one) outside my office building.
2 comments:
I think Christmas is more about sharing cheerful mood - it is not as religious as you would hope. Thus, even in Western countries, many people would celebrate Christmas even though they are not Christians. In China, we do not have a holiday that conveys as much cheerful mood as Christmas does, no matter in terms of decoration, music, costume or others, thus it is not surprising that we enbraced this holiday much more quickly than we recognize other Western holidays. I think people like to be cheered up, and Christmas is more about that than about anything else.
L.X.
Actually, my non-Christian friends do not celebrate the holiday and when Christmas eve rolls around, you will find them eating Chinese food and going to movie theaters.
Secondly, I agree that univerally we all enjoy being cheered up (especially in the winter season). However, I was attempting to stress the ingnorance inherent in China's educational system - I suppose "selective learning" is how it's labelled here. I am just bewildered sometimes how unwilling Chinese are in knowing the history and ideology behind evereything. Modern history is not even a class offered in high school. Most primary school students think MCdonalds is a domestic brand. And it also explains why Falun Gong achieved heightened popularity it such a short period of time before the group was purged before it got to powerful.
In my life, Christmas is not a very religious time for me, but at least I and even my non-Christian friends were taught that Christmas is a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
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