Mainland Chinese don't really understand Christmas but find it a fun party
Over a week ago when I was talking to some mainland Chinese students in a Hong Kong shopping mall, they found the concept of Christmas really weird. They didn't understand the purpose of decorating trees and putting them inside, taking pictures with an elderly man with a white beard in a red suit, and what this had to do with a baby born in a barn.
It is an honest observation coming from people who grew up in a country that does not promote any kind of religion, Christianity being one of them.
While there are many Christians in Hong Kong, Christmas is very much a commercial event in the city, and it's a holiday everyone there has grown up with.
Over 3 million Christmas decorations were bought on Tmall
But in China, the Chinese government is going to great lengths to dissuade people from celebrating Christmas -- even though the country manufactures the most goods related to the holiday, from decorations to gifts.
About a week ago, members of the Communist Party's Youth League at the University of South China in Hunan province were asked to sign a code of conduct which told them not to participate in Christmas-related celebrations, according to a statement circulating on Weibo.
"Communist Party members must be role models in abiding to the faith of communism. [Members are] not allowed to have superstitions and blindly follow the opium of Western spirits," the statement said, which was signed off by the Youth League.
The memo also said party members would face disciplinary consequences if they or their direct relatives were found to be involved in religious activities on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Instead they were instructed to hold events to promote "patriotic and traditional Chinese culture".
Yawn. And what does that mean?
China supplies 60% of the world's plastic Christmas trees
That's the same sentiment a student had in Jiangsu province, whose university had also banned Christmas celebrations.
"I am not very convinced of the school's excuse. Nobody relates Christmas to Western ideologies. Now I may not party with my friends in the school's dorm because we are afraid there will be inspections," he said.
He also didn't know the relationship between Christmas and the Christian faith.
Its not just happening in Hunan and Jiangsu provinces, but also Liaoning and Shaanxi provinces, where people were banned from gathering for celebrations on December 24 and 25.
But commercially Chinese companies love Christmas. Over 600,000 Christmas trees and 3 million decorations were bought on T Mall, owned by Alibaba. China makes over 60 percent of the world's plastic Christmas trees.
What's wrong with Christmas with Chinese characteristics?
Liu Kaiming, head of the Institute of Contemporary Observation in Shenzhen, said he finds it absurd for local institutions to ban the celebration of Christmas because it is a "Western festival".
"To Chinese people, this festival is not much different to the Singles' Day on November 11, it's for shopping," he said.
"China has long been using a Western calendar. We celebrate the New Year, Labour Day, and Women's Day based on Western origins. Are we going to ban all of them?" he said.
"This is China's dilemma -- it is largely opened up to globalization now, but it also holds back from embracing full-scale globalization because of domestic politics," Liu continued.
"The recent political emphasis on the 'revitalization of Chinese culture' from officials may have prompted local units to use this season as a chance to show loyalty by following the party line."
This relates back to President Xi Jinping who expects all cadres to show unwavering loyalty to the Party.
It's not just Christianity under fire, but also Buddhism and feng shui -- there's only one thing to believe in -- the Party.
Now if only the Party had Christmas-like celebrations then maybe people would be more on board.
A bagpiper playing tunes to solicit donations for poppies
Yesterday when I was coming out of the MTR in Central, I could hear the distinct sounds of bagpipes being played. What was that about?
When I looked out the window of the station I could see -- two young Chinese men dressed in tartan from head to toe and wore poppies for Remembrance Day and were soliciting donations for the local veterans.
One bagpiper decided to take a break and talk to some gweilos, while the other gave his rendition of Teresa Teng's The Moon Represents My Heart.
I'd never heard it played on bagpipes before!
And as my friend YTSL points out, where else will you hear that, but in Hong Kong!
True that.
It was really nice to see these young people engaging with people, who asked to take pictures with them and they immediately obliged.
Actually it's sad that hardly any Hong Kong people wear poppies on November 11 -- do they not know that Canadian, British, and Indian troops tried to protect the city from the Japanese, but failed in the Battle of Hong Kong December 8-25, 1941?
The soldiers were ill prepared and over 3,000 died. The city surrendered to the Japanese, who then occupied Hong Kong until 1945.
Nowadays Hong Kong people -- Hong Kong and mainland Chinese know November 11 as Singles Day (11-11) -- the biggest online shopping event of the year thanks to Alibaba!
Commerce Secretary Greg So announced a big shopping day on July 1
The Hong Kong government really has no idea how to stimulate the economy.
Its latest brilliant notion?
Go shopping.
July 1 this year is the 20th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong back to China, and how best to celebrate than to have a shopping day similar to China's Singles Day on November 11.
Prices and discounts will involve the numbers 7 and 1
While the one on the mainland is mostly online, the one in Hong Kong will be online and offline, and even better, discounts or prices will involve the numbers "7" and "1" in honour of July 1. So there can be items that are HK$710, or 71 percent off, HK$71 or just 71 items available.
Groan.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So Kam-leung explained the idea was inspired by e-commerce giant Alibaba's annual super sale day on November 11.
In China, Singles Day is the biggest shopping event in the world, last year setting a record at US$17.8 billion, beating the 2015 record of US$14.3 billion.
So said the government would help facilitate bringing offline and online sales together, and Hong Kong's shopping event would last between three to seven days.
Singles Day is a boon for China -- will it be for HK too?
If this is the best strategy our government has for improving our economy, it just reveals its pathetic short-term thinking.
We're also all in big trouble because it also means the government is not determined to protect the environment in terms of recycling or reducing waste, which actually has the potential to be an innovative way to boost our economy...
This year not many people wore British poppies in Hong Kong
Today is Remembrance Day for those in the UK and Canada. Considering Hong Kong was a colony of Britain, and many British and Canadian soldiers died defending the city against the Japanese in World War II, it's shocking that not many people wore poppies today.
Last night I went to an event at the British Consulate and was very surprised to find hardly any people -- English people -- wore the red paper flower on their lapels.
Granted the poppies aren't easily available everywhere, one has to go out of his or her way to wear one.
Can I also add how hard it is to wear a British poppy? It's a paper red flower with one green leaf, supposedly pointed at 11 o'clock, and then they are put together with a plastic green stem.
Men can easily wear this poppy by sticking it in the lapel buttonhole. But what if you're not wearing a jacket or it doesn't have a lapel buttonhole?
These last two days I've pinned it to my jacket, and amazingly it hasn't been destroyed. I miss the Canadian poppies, which comes with a pin instead of a green plastic stem so it's much easier to wear.
Jack Ma with Daniel Craig during a gala TV show
In any case, the other important day to mark here is Singles Day in China.
No one knows exactly when it started, but sometime back in the mid-1990s, when four single male university students decided to have a kind of anti-Valentine's Day, since November 11 is 11/11.
It eventually grew into a day for single people to get together, and then retailers quickly caught on, marketing it as a day to treat oneself to buying something special.
Then Alibaba hijacked the idea as November 11 being Singles Day and an opportunity to buy things online.
Last year Alibaba made $9.3 billion, and this year by 5pm beat the record with $10 billion.
This year Alibaba boss Jack Ma enlisted the help of Daniel Craig to push up sales on a gala TV show, and Kevin Spacey does a funny take on Singles Day with this video:
As the President of the United States, his Frank Underwood character makes it seem like anything in the US is for sale...
