Not Merry Christmas

Not Merry Christmas

Comment on "We'll be giving our Chinese pals a genuine seasonal experience" (Dec 25, 2009, China Daily)

As a Westerner in China over the holidays, I was prepared for a non-Christian observance. Imagine my dismay at all of the "Merry Christmas" greetings throughout the country as we progressed on our holiday from east to north - Shanghai to Beijing. It has been explained to me by locals that the Chinese Merry Christmas is celebrated mostly on Christmas Eve and as a night of revelry and partying by young people similar to a New Year's Eve. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Beijing and were greeted upon our Christmas Eve arrival with a lobby full of scantily clad Santa Claus helpers and a raucous stage show with lights and drums. As the Chinese are so quick to be politically correct, I was surprised by this weird concept of Christmas.