CHRISTMAS IN SHANGERS

Merry Christmas, or 'Sheng Dan Jie' Everyone...from the land of tea, firecrackers, and IPO's.

Yes, the Chinese have their own term for Christmas - like they have their own words for everything. Such as: Britney Spears (Bu Lan Ni) also known as Xiao Tain Tian, or 'Little Sweetie'. Or Tiger Woods (Tai Ge Wuzi), the Hilton Hotel (Shi Er Tan), and the list goes on. It can be maddening for the traveler, as nothing, and I mean NOTHING is known by it's English name. So, while the Chinese are very excited about Christmas, and any other reason for celebration for that matter, about twenty percent of the local population (and far less in the countryside) would actually know what you were talking about if you said 'Merry Christmas' to them. But mention Sheng Dan Jie and they are ready to break out the bai jiu (industrial strength white alcohol) and dance a jig. Walking around on Christmas Eve tonight felt almost like a teeming Times Square: party hats, noise makers, little light-up devil's horns? And that's just it - it could have easily been Halloween, just switch the orange and black for red and green and everyone's good to go.
The front of my apartment tower has a Christmas tree with lights and a scattering of 'presents' underneath. There are also lights draped over the foyer, spray painted snow, and cardboard Santa images taped to the glass. When I asked my Chinese tutor what the people thought of old St.Nick, she told me, 'Oh, they don't know who he is or even care...he just seems like a festive, jolly character so they like him'! Sort of how I felt about him as a kid, I suppose. But to me he was also the harbinger of home baked goodies, presents, and no school. For the Chinese, he just represents shopping and an exotic party. Where I live in central Shanghai there are Christmas decorations everywhere, and in the touristy Xintiandi area where I go to the gym, there must be a hundred Christmas trees alone. Two things: One, it is intensely commercial, and represents making money (something worshiped by Chinese) so no one wants to be 'out-Christmas-ed' by the next guy, and two, it's an excuse to straight up party. Add to this the venerable Chinese tradition of copying anything even remotely successful, and it makes for one heady mix of blinking trees, gold wrapped pillars, electric life-sized watusi-ing santas, and full sled and reindeer renditions. When I stop to take it all in and realize that I'm in fact in the People's Republic of China, it starts to remind me of psychedelic song lyrics from the sixties. Mao meets Santa for a cosmic commie be-in.
And so...on we go, hurtling into 2008 (er ling ling ba). As Shanghai morphs into Hong Kong before my very eyes (the previous row-house neighborhoods on three out of four sides of my building are gone in the year and a half I've lived here - quickly, as in around the clock, being replaced with high-rises and new subway stations) I still find comfort in the small neighborhood things. Where there were once seven or eight fruiterers on my block, there are now two. Six had the rug quite literally pulled out from underneath them. But there is still an impressive array of fresh fruit all the time, and last week marked the seasonal reappearance of my favorite jin jiu, or mandarin oranges. I still stop in the local foot massage joint monthly to have the dogs squeezed and punched for an hour, followed by a bizarrely thorough pedicure that involves chisels - don't ask. Total price: $4. Ahh, the little things in life, I do savor them.
So I'm here for Christmas, and then heading off to San Francisco on the 28th for three weeks to produce and album for a new artist - a rapping Yoga teacher from Marin County who has his own school there. He's called MC Yogi, and before anyone else tries the gag - yes I have already asked him if his DJ's name is Boo Boo. But his style is very tight, and I'm excited to work with him. It's a new genre really (Yoga Hip Hop?) and that always interests me.
I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy, and at least slightly nicer than naughty. It's been an interesting year, and I'm looking wholeheartedly at the possibilities that that er ling ling ba brings. At the top of my list is improving my Chinese and traveling around the country a bit more - not necessarily in that order. Also seeing my old friends again for a big dinner in NYC next summer - I hope to make that a tradition. And finally, but always most importantly, seeing my family, who mostly live in Maine these days. And with that my thoughts drift off to snowy fields, pine trees, and fireplaces...

Happy Holidays,

Sean