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Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category: 24
Published On: Mar 07, 2006 03:02 PM
Total entries in this category: 24
Published On: Mar 07, 2006 03:02 PM
Santa
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa and he even comes
to Kunming.
When we were here in 2000, Christmas trees (fake,
of course) were rare enough that I can still tell you the site of every one I
saw. Now even mom & pop stores in our not very upscale neighborhood have
them. Almost any restaurant that is established enough to have a door and
adult-sized chairs (don't laugh--this rules out most restaurants in our
neighborhood) is adorned with at least one fake Christmas tree and at least a
few red or silver tinselly garlands. Department stores sell many kinds of
Christmas decorations, all unimaginably ugly. Think of the all-time tackiest
Christmas decorations you have ever seen in North America, and then triple the
ugly quotient. These are the ones that were too vile to
export.
In China, Baby Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the three wise men are not to be seen, but Santa's presence is huge. Given a general Chinese fascination with angels, I'm surprised they don't often appear either although the Foreign Language Department did give us a baby-sized stuffed cherub which is currently dangling from our chandelier. There are Santa stuffed dolls (and yes, we have been given one of those too). Although Chinese women no longer want to be fat, they do like chubby kids and there is a certain cuteness associated with fatness, so Santa (with a nose almost as big as his belly) is considered charming. Our Chinese friends were shocked to realize that Santa does not symbolize God and that in church we do not sing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."
For the Chinese, celebrating Christmas is fashionably western, and if you can spend it with a bona fide westerner, so much the better. My 23-year old tutor told me that young Chinese people consider Christmas more fun that the Chinese New Year, when you're stuck visiting relatives for three days. When she was a college student in Chengdu, Christmas was celebrated by crowding into the main square of the city, buying balloons on a sticks and than going around bopping strangers with your balloon!
So how did we spend Christmas? After receiving many calls and visitors, we went out to dinner with the teachers I teach to a Jingpo restaurant. The Jingpo are an ethnic minority living along the Burmese border and their cuisine is hot enough that even the four Sichuan natives in our group were wiping tears and sniffling. For us, Christmas dinner with banana blossoms, sticky rice, and wild vegetables was just fine!
In China, Baby Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the three wise men are not to be seen, but Santa's presence is huge. Given a general Chinese fascination with angels, I'm surprised they don't often appear either although the Foreign Language Department did give us a baby-sized stuffed cherub which is currently dangling from our chandelier. There are Santa stuffed dolls (and yes, we have been given one of those too). Although Chinese women no longer want to be fat, they do like chubby kids and there is a certain cuteness associated with fatness, so Santa (with a nose almost as big as his belly) is considered charming. Our Chinese friends were shocked to realize that Santa does not symbolize God and that in church we do not sing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."
For the Chinese, celebrating Christmas is fashionably western, and if you can spend it with a bona fide westerner, so much the better. My 23-year old tutor told me that young Chinese people consider Christmas more fun that the Chinese New Year, when you're stuck visiting relatives for three days. When she was a college student in Chengdu, Christmas was celebrated by crowding into the main square of the city, buying balloons on a sticks and than going around bopping strangers with your balloon!
So how did we spend Christmas? After receiving many calls and visitors, we went out to dinner with the teachers I teach to a Jingpo restaurant. The Jingpo are an ethnic minority living along the Burmese border and their cuisine is hot enough that even the four Sichuan natives in our group were wiping tears and sniffling. For us, Christmas dinner with banana blossoms, sticky rice, and wild vegetables was just fine!
Posted: Fri - December 26, 2003 at 11:48 PM