Christmas in China

Technically, I've spent the day before Christmas Eve onwards in the UK, but the whole of the run up towards Christmas was in Shanghai, and my department also held Christmas party before I left, so I thought it would be interesting to report on how Christmas is celebrated in a country to which it is so new. 

Of course, Christmas is not a traditional Chinese festival, and they don't get any holiday for it, but as with everything, there is a keen interest in anything Western at the moment, and nowhere more so than in the expat haven that is Shanghai. As with Halloween, Chinese people were aware of these Western traditions, and many people erroneously wished me Happy Thanksgiving when it was on (not realising that it is only a celebration for Americans), and the shops had sales for Black Friday. They also started to have Christmas decorations up when December started and were playing western Christmas songs by the time I left, but most people don't really know what any of these celebrations are about, and the shops just seem to be using it as an excuse to drum up more sales. Definitely, I was very pleased that interest in Christmas only seemed apparent after Thanksgiving had passed, unlike in the UK, where supermarkets encourage us to start stocking up from October onwards! The Chinese love of lights also meant that there were some really beautifully lit up shopping centres and streets.

Christmas lights on a street near Lujiazui

Christmas lights on a shopping mall at Lujiazui roundabout

Lights at a shopping centre on Nanjing Road West. A little bit premature during November, but pretty nonetheless! This photo was featured on the Zai_shanghai Instagram page

On the first weekend of December, there was also a really lovely Christmas market in the French Concession part of Shanghai, that was so close to an authentic one that it suddenly made me homesick. Until that time, I didn't really think about Europe, because I was so busy exploring and learning about Chinese culture.

Christkindlmarkt at Paulaner Brauhaus on Fenyang Lu

It was fairly busy and packed with people, not just because it was squeezed into a fairly small space. When I went, I saw several of my dorm mates there and on top of that there were plenty of curious Chinese people there too, eager to learn about these Western traditions (I guess this is just like how I like to turn up at the Chinese New Year celebrations in Nottingham each year!).

Apparently this place has a Christmas market on every year, and this year was better than ever. They had the most amazing tasting Gluhwein (German mulled wine) I've had in a very long time, and it was worth every penny. The 25 RMB entrance fee we thought was a bit unnecessary, but it turned out we could use the cost of the ticket on something from one of the stalls inside, so essentially, entrance was free, as long as you bought something. 
We didn't buy too much else, but it was a great experience, really pretty, and the quality I'd say was on almost on a par with any of the Christmas markets at home from Prague or Vorosmarty, and better than some of the ones we get even in England. The only thing that was missing was some kurtos kalács! Oh well, we can only dream!

Generally, the Chinese don't really give presents for special occasions like we do (which I discovered almost as soon as I got there, when certain lab people had a complete inability to wrap anything prior to autoclaving!) When it's someone's birthday, friends don't buy them drinks, but they buy their friends drinks! There were two birthdays in the lab while I was there, and on the first occasion, the birthday girl bought everyone milk tea, and on the second one, the birthday girl bought a big cake to share with everyone. On another occasion, a professor in the department had just had a new baby, and to celebrate, he bought everybody in the whole department a little box of some sweets, a bit like a favour box at a wedding. I didn't really understand how this could be a sustainable social rule, and I tried to explain that having babies was very expensive and that when someone has a baby in the UK, we get them presents or vouchers, to help towards the cost of looking after the baby. They just laughed and said, "yes, but in China it's the other way round". Nevertheless, some of my Chinese friends tried to be part of the Christmas tradition and got me some small gifts, a fan and chopsticks to remind me of my stay there.

Early December, it was also decided by the lab management team that this year we would have a departmental Christmas party. I suspect this was in no small way due to my presence, seeing as the last time the department had a Christmas party was three years ago (which coincided with the last time a western person visited the lab at Christmas time) and also because the party was conveniently scheduled just in time before I left. Nevertheless, I was very touched and happy that the lab were marking my presence and/or departure in some way, and although I didn't know everybody in the department, I thought it would be a great way for everyone to have a little fun and time off from the lab.
And boy, did the department put on a spread!  

Christmas party spread in our meeting room, with Prof Ou on the right hand side in a Santa hat 

They spent hundreds of pounds on food, drinks, microphones and decorations, including Santa hats, reindeer headbands and light up Minnie Mouse headbands too. There was also a tombola with prizes like phone chargers, memory sticks and the first prize was top of the range speakers! Clearly there was no expense spared, and I know that they spent the equivalent of about six hundreds of pounds, which is a huge amount in Chinese prices. It was quite clearly going to blow out of the water anything that my department at home has ever put on, simply because this department allowed a bigger budget for the party.
But the best part was that this party was going to be done in the Chinese way, which meant that everyone was going to do some kind of performance, kind of like a cabaret or variety show. Apparently, this is a very traditional way of parties in China, and my Chinese friend who's lived in the UK for nearly ten years was surprised that this way of celebrating had survived this long. I was happy to give it a try and excited to see what it would be like. And as the guest of honour, I was asked to perform first!
This came about because since it was discovered that I could play guitar (I mentioned that I used to play one time, so this automatically made me an expert apparently), so I was asked to perform some Western Christmas songs. But I'm really not that good, and I'm terribly out of practice. Last time I played seriously was when I had lessons with a self-taught, ageing rocker ten years ago, above a second-hand record store in Hull. I could remember most of the chords, but I'd never performed a song whilst playing guitar at the same time! The prospect slightly terrified me, but I didn't want to back out of a Chinese tradition and let the team down. So after some surreptitious practice sessions in my dorm room which I attempted to do as quiet as possible, followed by some louder sessions in the park (during which I was approached by some Chinese guys who were very interested in taking pictures, including borrowing the guitar to pose with it, while I tried to protest in my best Chinese: 这不是我的吉他！这是我朋友的).

Performing "Last Christmas" and "All I Want is You" as the opening act at our departmental Christmas party

The performance went relatively well, although I forgot to take a microphone, so the end result is available to watch, but very quiet and a poor quality recording. If you're still interested, it's here on YouTube and YouKu, depending on what country you're in and how good your VPN access is! The two songs I chose to do were "Last Christmas" (a massive hit in China apparently, so I was compelled to do it even though it's so simple and boring, just same four chords over and over again) and "All I Want for Christmas" (a much more challenging song, which I actually like, although I can't possibly live up to the Mariah standards, and her trained whistle register).
This was followed by some hilarious Bollywood dancing from a group upstairs:

Hilarious Bollywood dance performed by another lab. Had everyone shouting for an en core

My lab also performed a song together, although it was all in Chinese, so they didn't ask me to join in, but it was really cute, and there is also a video here:

My lab singing a cute Chinese song. Even Prof Ou joined in on the extreme right!

The rest of the evening had several more performances, including a duet by two of the married supervisors in the department, and also a song by the head of department, Professor Deng! After all the official, scheduled performances were over, the evening descended into a home KTV, where the guys accessed what seemed to be a karaoke version of Spotify, where you could stream any song that was converted to a backing track and had the lyrics appear on the screen, so it was a free-for-all to ask for any song they wanted. I was asked to sing the Dido part for Eminem's Stan in a duet with DB's room mate, which was great fun. 

Duet with Xu Min, doing Eminem's "Stan"

I really enjoyed my evening, and I much preferred it to English parties, where people just turn up and get drunk! Even though I strongly suspect that this was a show with the main intention that I go home and tell everybody how awesome China was, I think everyone had fun, so it was worth it. I think it's safe to say that their plan worked!

The only downside of Christmas in China was that the cleaning lady and one of the security guards were a little bit surly, and when we got the Christmas tree we had in our dorm out from underneath a staircase, they proceeded to break it and throw it away, followed by replacing it with a very ugly plant. I can only assume that these Shanghainese workers objected to us having any fun because they had grown tired of looking and cleaning up after us, and so they wanted to give us some kind of personal insult. But other than that, everyone else seemed very friendly and inquisitive towards Christmas, and I know that my dorm mates who are studying Chinese also had a party organised for them. The other downside, of course, was that the imported Christmas foods at the Western supermarket cost double the price than at home! It was £5 for one imported chocolate Santa! So I gave that a miss. 

But overall, just because it's the other side of the world and not a traditional festival in their country, I think there is a great Christmas to be had in Shanghai :)