2007-01-08 - Christmas in Ningbo

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2007-01-08 : Christmas in Ningbo

圣诞节在宁波/ 圣诞节在中国

Christmas has never been part of the Chinese culture as only 1% of Chinese people are known to be Christians and it's only recently that China started to celebrate Christmas. In China signs of Christmas festivities could be first seen in Beijing when foreigners who didn't go back home started to gather in order to celebrate this happy moment. They were the first one to be able to find Christmas trees in some department stores. That was in 2000 but in 2002 we still could hardly see any sign of Christmas time in Ningbo. No touch of Christmas on the streets, no decorations in shops and Carrefour was at that time the only supermarket selling a few Christmas trees with ornaments to put on. I remember when I bought there my first artificial Christmas tree in 2002, some customers were staring at me like if I was buying a UFO to travel the space (!) Funny situation when we know that China has been for the last 10 years the biggest production base for Christmas gifts, exporting millions of items throughout the world.
But in 2006, the situation has changed. We can find Christmas decoration almost every where. Department stores hire sales dressed as Santa Claus handing out candies, supermarkets and restaurants ask their waitresses to wear Santa hats. It has not been long for the trade industries to understand that if western countries were multiplying their turnover at Christmas time, China should catch the train too. Just calculate if only 20% of Chinese people were to celebrate Christmas, how many Christmas trees could be sold ? How many restaurants could organize a profitable Christmas party ? How many supermarkets and stores would see their turnover raising up ? If Christmas is for sure going to be more popular in Ningbo, it might also be soon, the most profitable yearly event in China...