China Charlie

A weekly column about living in Dongguan, for those new to Dongguan, new to China, or anyone that likes a good story.  Written by an expat  who first came to Dongguan in 1987,  hopefully this series of articles will be both entertaining and informative.

Archives:

Welcome to China Charlie

Dongguan Driving Challenges

Fun With Air Travel in China

Vertical Speed Bumps

Language and Culture

Mobile Phones and Other Stuff

Karen Carpenter, Kenny G and the Chinese Water Torture… . .

Dan Gerous, where are you when we need  you?

Life in hotels in the “old days”, a “Moon Shot”, and the saga of the pink panties….

Was There Life After M*A*S*H

Camaraderie of Dong Guan in the “old days”.. . . 

Who's on First, China Style

Life at the Ramada/Guangzhou, Resting trucks, Dynamite, and other stuff

Is Dongguan becoming too civilized?

 Roadside Word Games, China Style

Thoughts on American Thanksgiving

The Traffic Food Chain

Celebration of western holidays, a Hong Kong sleigh ride and…. . .

O.K., so here we are, a lot of us stuck here in the “Middle Kinkdom” for the holidays. While this can seem to be a “bit of a downer”, it actually is an opportunity for experiences that would be difficult to duplicate in most other areas of the world.

Before going any further, I want to apologize in advance to my friends of other beliefs that may be offended, but with my Christian upbringing most of this installment will involve the differences that make celebrating the Christian holiday of Christmas here a bit unique. Wanting to get the “political correctness” part of this over with, I also want to make it clear that this is not intended to be degrading or demeaning to anyone in any way. There, with that out of the way…. . .

As South East Asia is predominately non Christian, there can be some confusion about what the celebration of Christmas is really all about.

I heard a story a while back about a “gwailoh” asking a person in this part of the world if they knew what Christmas was about, and they answered that it was about “someone’s birthday”. When asked if they knew whose birthday was being celebrated, they thought a minute, and said they didn’t know the name, but he was a “big guy, with a beard, that dressed in a red suit” (either they had seen too many Coca Cola Holiday ads, or the Tim Allen “Santa Clause” movies too many times).

If this is your first Christmas Eve in this part of the world, they can be different. In some countries, they set off fireworks or fire guns into the air on Christmas Eve. In most, the people seem to get Christmas Eve confused with the western style New Years Eve, with big dinners (it’s not a good idea to plan to go out for dinner “at the spur of the moment”-make reservations in advance). There’s also counting down to midnight, Champagne,  and some pretty heavy partying, lasting quite late into Christmas Day.

The evening of December 31^st is usually pretty quiet here. I remember being in the 5^th floor bar at the Silverland, raising a glass of beer and leading the other 9 “gwailoh patrons” in “Auld Lang Syne”  at midnight on New Years Eve 1997.

If this is your first Christmas here, the lighted decorations in Hong Kong are worth seeing. As I understand it, since before I came to this part of the world, most of the Commercial Buildings facing Victoria Harbour have been decorated with lights, from (roughly) American Thanksgiving through the Lunar New Year Celebration (mid January-early February).  An evening walk along the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade during this period is a worth while experience, particularly with children.

In another installment of “China Charlie”, I mentioned a “Hong Kong Sleigh Ride”. This would have to had mystified anyone familiar with ‘merican sleigh rides, and specifically folks from the northern tier of states or southern Canada. We all know that to have a “sleigh ride” you need (at least) a wagon pulled by horses or Farm Tractor (snow is optional).

A few years back, a friend was spending Christmas alone, and so we decided to do something different for him. I called him on a Monday in late December and invited him on a “Hong Kong Sleigh Ride” for the next Saturday Night, and told him to dress warm. As he grew up in the “northern tier”, he couldn’t imagine what the heck a “Hong Kong Sleigh Ride” was, but being a good guy, he humored me and showed up at the appointed time and place.

Almost every night of the year, the “Star Ferry” runs a “Harbour Lights Cruise” that departs the Star Ferry Piers (on both “sides”) after dusk, and on this particular Saturday Evening, was our Hong Kong version of a sleigh ride.

It took about an hour, and may have seem “touristy” or “tacky” to some, but with snacks and wine on board, and the view of the lights from the harbour, it was a fair substitute for the “freeze your ears and nose” original… . .