Eric's Beijing Diary

Thanksgiving. It's really an American holiday. Christmas is different, because that really is international. But Thanksgiving is pretty much American. Nevertheless, there are a lot of Americans in Beijing, so there are usually a dozen or so places that prepare a Thanksgiving Dinner. Last year I went to the John Bull pub for Thanksgiving Dinner. This year I invited Amber to share a Thanksgiving dinner with me at the Swisshotel in Dongsishitiao.

It was a nice meal, but I don't think I have quite found the perfect place for Thanksgiving Dinner. The price is just too high. One hundred sixty-eight RMB, plus a 15% gratuity. Almost 200 Kuai. That's about $25 US. It may not seem like that bad a price if you are coming from America. But in China, that is an astronomical price to pay for a meal. It's a week's wages for a minimum wage worker.

But it was worth it, because Amber really enjoyed herself, and we had a good chance to talk about the whole idea of Thanksgiving. I told Amber that God causes the rain to fall on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). So if a farmer prays for rain, he will be blessed with rain, but his neighbor will also be blessed with rain, even though his neighbor is not a believer. The man who believes gets rain, and the man who does not believe gets rain. The believer has food to eat, and the unbeliever has food to eat. The believer has health, and the unbeliever has health. The only difference between the believer and the unbeliever is that the believer takes time to say, "thank-you." The unbeliever never says, "thank-you," to God, because he doesn't believe that God even exists. On hearing this, Amber said, "Oh! We better say 'thank-you' right now!" So we did.