The Holiday Season doesn’t really exist in China. Most Chinese people aren’t Christian, so Christmas isn’t celebrated. With all things western, though, the Chinese have attempted to bring Christmas to China.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, decorations slowly started arriving in Tianjin. The most prominent holiday decoration would have to be a huge paper Santa head that was placed on literally every Shop’s storefront in the entire city. Other decorations include huge signs that say “MeRry ChristMas Day!!!” and grocery store workers dressed as elves.
I had the day off from school on Christmas Eve. And to my surprise, no one had to make this day up on a weekend! I did go out to lunch with some important people from my school and all the foreign teachers. We went to this nice restaurant, and it was really interesting to see what fancier, more elegant Chinese food is like. There was some sort of Chinese variant of foie gras, some really interesting jellyfish, and the world’s best tofu, among many other interesting creations. My Chinese teacher and all of the important people at the school lunch warned everyone not to go to Tianjin’s major shopping street that night, Binjiangdao (滨江道). Of course that means that after lunch I called up my Thai friend and we were off.
Apparently Chinese people celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve (if they celebrate christmas?), and they celebrate by going out. Binjiangdao was unbelievably crowded, and there were so many street vendors selling the most random things. I spotted dog clothes, Halloween masks, and stuffed animal bouquets. There’s also a big church at one end of the street, and there was a gigantic crowd of Chinese people there. According to my Chinese teacher, Chinese people don’t know what they should do on Christmas Eve, so they all go to this one church and just walk around it. Going home that night was a nightmare, too. I walked into the subway station and couldn’t figure out where to go because there were so many people everywhere. I had to stand in line for six minutes to get a ticket when it usually takes thirty seconds. While trying to get into the subway car, I literally had to jump ontop of my Thai friend. While it was definitely an interesting experience, it was not a very pleasurable one.
I spent Christmas day with friends eating a lot of food. I even found a place in Tianjin where I can buy Cheese bagels that taste real. I just need to find cream cheese next.
The day after Christmas there was a YFU Christmas party at a hotel. The hotel was absolutely hilarious. It was decorated with Renaissance style paintings, checkered floors, emerald chandeliers, three fake pianos, a spiral staircase the size of Rhode Island, Chinese calligraphy scrolls, and the ubiquitous Santa Claus faces.
Two other YFU students and I had to perform at the party of about forty people. We were asked to sing a Chinese song and didn’t know what to pick, so we picked Bie Kan Wo Zhi Shi Yi Zhi Yang (别看我只是一只羊) from a Chinese cartoon found everywhere called Xiyangyang yu Huitailang (喜洋洋灰太狼). Unfortunately we had no idea what we were doing, but we’re foreign so I guess it doesn’t matter. After our performance I was interviewed in Chinese in front of everyone, and I actually answered the questions successfully. I guess I’m making progress with my Chinese, then?
Here is a video of the Xiyangyang theme song:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTgyMzcwMzk2.html
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