Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
There. I said it. Nevermind that most people in China don’t know what it’s all about, nor do most people even know when it is. And if the official media are discouraged from reporting Christmas or told not to talk too much about this strange foreign Christian festival, the shops are certainly learning how to cash in on it.
In Chinese of course, we say 圣诞快乐 (Trad: 聖誕快樂) – 圣诞 meaning ‘holy birth’. I often wonder how many people understand what this even means – or indeed how many believe that the holy birth is of Mao Zedong himself, incidentally born Boxing Day 1893.
In any event Christmas is hear to stay, and in this increasingly globalised city why not?