People are taking to the festive season as they become more aware of international traditions, writes CLIFFORD COONAN
THE CAFÉ in the shopping mall is packed, youngsters in puffa jackets sip Christmas-themed frappuccinos and eat what looks very much like Christmas cake.
Their shopping bags are full of goodies from the brand-name shops in the mall – a Jamie Oliver cookbook here, a pair of slippers from Zara there, and a bagful of wrapping paper bought cheap from a stall outside. Outside it is freezing and windy and there are murmurs about a possible white Christmas.
This could be the St Stephen’s Green Centre in Dublin, but it is in fact The Place shopping mall in Beijing’s Central Business District.
China does not traditionally celebrate Christmas, preferring to reserve its festive firepower for Chinese New Year, which usually follows a few weeks later.
In the past few years though, as urban incomes have risen and young people have more exposure to overseas holidays and traditions, Christmas has become very popular.
It is usually a time for those two favourite pastimes, shopping and eating. Even those who do not mark the Yule season send text messages to their friends – dozens of them arrive over the holiday from both friends and businesses.
Sure enough, the phone on the table vibrates – it’s a text message from one of Beijing’s best restaurants, Madame Zhu’s Kitchen, a big hit with the capital’s hip young things.
“Madame Zhu’s Kitchen wants to celebrate Christmas with you. On the 25th we will have gifts, turkey and desserts. Happy Christmas!” Turkey and desserts are novelty foods in China, although giving gifts is a national pastime. Lifestyle magazines run endless “how-to” articles, in which they feature foreigners celebrating the Yuletide season.
Christmas trees can be seen in public places in the capital and Santa Claus, or Shengdan Laoren, lurks everywhere. His red clothes are very auspicious, of course.
It often happens that the Christmas trees, the lights and even the Santa statues are kept on for Chinese New Year, but they go up in early December just like in the West and some Chinese families have started putting them up at home. Along Dongdaqiao Road, tasteful blue and white lights went up in mid-December.
Luiz (30) is going to have a turkey dinner at the home of a friend who is married to a foreigner. “There is a very noticeable Christmas atmosphere in downtown Beijing,” she says.
“You hear Christmas music and see Christmas trees everywhere, in the restaurants and shopping malls. It naturally gives people a holiday feeling.”
Xia Xueluan, a professor of sociology with Peking University, says Chinese people are becoming more interested in international celebrations, such as Christmas.
“Especially the country’s young population, who have grown accustomed to celebrating holidays like Christmas,” Prof Xia tells the Xinhua news agency.
One of the reasons why Christmas is catching on is because it is an obligation-free holiday. At Chinese New Year, people have to get onto a packed train and go home to their families, where tradition dictates that they must clean their parents’ house, give expensive cash gifts in red envelopes to various relatives and take part in an endless round of dinners with the family.
If you are a young person who is pushing 30 and not married, your relatives will all join and criticise you for being tardy in getting hitched. The social pressure is immense.
Christmas in China though is a time to hang out with your friends in the city. You can exchange funky gifts without having to worry about offending anyone, you can drink mulled wine and eat Western food as a novelty, and it’s a relaxed way to have fun. Valentine’s Day has a similar role.
Christmas has emerged as one of the busiest times in cinemas and studios launch big movies for the Christmas market, even though it is not an official celebration. In the shops there are special Christmas sales, which will always help to give a holiday a shot in the arm.
Most of the world’s Christmas paraphernalia, from plastic Christmas trees to giant foam Santa Claus dolls, are made in Yiwu in eastern China. The town is also home to five of the biggest sock manufacturers in the world, so there is a good chance that the Christmas stockings were made there too.
Factory owners there say that sales were up strongly this year and, while much of what they made was exported, increasingly Chinese people are buying their glow-in-the-dark Rudolphs and inflatable elves for the domestic market.
This year, Chinese New Year falls on January 22nd, so there is only a short break before the start of the Lunar New Year. As the coming year is the Year of the Dragon, the celebrations will be particularly intense, but many of Beijing’s young residents will have a head-start on getting the presents in for Christmas.