From Telegraph.co.uk:
Their parents lived according to the rhythms of the Chinese countryside. They grew rice and vegetables in season, tended fish ponds, and their holiday was the two-week lunar new year festival.
But life has changed for Hong Zhujin, Xu Zhijun, Mao Lanai, workers I met on my instant tour of China’s manufacturing zones, and tens of millions of others like them. Their annual life-cycle is dominated by Christmas.
John of Nanchang described in a comment the other day how the Christmas festivities have overtaken his colleagues, shops, hotels and restaurants. Nary a waitress in eastern China is to be found without a Santa hat. It’s worth pondering why this is. It’s not as if China is overwhelmingly moved by the Christmas story.[Full Text]
