I had meant to post some observations about Christmas in China a couple of weeks ago.
Unfortunately, as readers of a previous blog will know, technical problems with the internet caused – according to official explanations – by an earthquake in Taiwan (all kinds of conspiracy theories about the real reason are flying around among the western community here), put a spanner in the works. Still, better late than never, here’s my very own Chinese Christmas special…

The Chinese approach to Christmas is similar to the British approach to Halloween. Life goes on without any real pause, with most locals going about their normal business on Christmas Day – cleaning the streets, repairing the roads, going to the office or school – like it’s any other day.

Shops and restaurants get all dressed up for the occasion with decorations, kids have parties at their schools and some people exchange gifts: but there’s very little understanding of what it’s really all about, or why people celebrate it.

When I mentioned the words “Jesus” and “nativity” in a discussion about Christmas with my adult class, there were several confused-looking faces. Forty minutes later, after an intended brief outline of the true meaning of Christmas had turned into a rant about commercialisation and capitalism, I realised that they – just like most people back home – don’t really give a toss about the difference between the Son of God and Santa. As long as they can afford that new MP3 player their kid has been pestering them about since July.

My own Christmas was spent in a western restaurant where they’d certainly made the effort to make things as authentic as possible, even if the potatoes were a little hard and the gravy a little cold. Yet it was the little things that make Christmas Day unlike any other day of the year – the terrible jokes in the crackers, eating dinner with a party hat on, the depressing procession of births deaths and marriages in the soaps (punctuated, of course, by a slew of adverts from furniture companies offering “buy-now-pay-2027” deals) – that I missed the most.

I did, however, manage to spend a traditional Christmas morning trying to shake off a hangover from the night before. As confessed in a previous blog, I usually spend Christmas Eve in Ikon nightclub wondering why I’m the only person who thinks it’s sensible to wear a jacket and scarf in the middle of winter.

Strangely, I felt much less like a fish out of water this year as I sat in a trendy photographer’s studio in downtown Dalian, sipping red wine and being entertained by an accordion player whose Christmas repertoire went no further than Jingle Bells, and a “street dancer” who somehow managed to unplug the speakers on the stereo as he spun on his head. Maybe it was the knowledge that I wouldn’t be charged double fare for the cab ride home that made me feel so at home.