Eric's Beijing Diary

Christmas in China is hard to beat. And I'm not just saying that because of the eggnog at Lush. Don't drink too much of it, but boy, is that stuff good!

Actually, I should probably rephrase my original statement. If you're a Christian, Christmas in China is hard to beat. Those for whom Christmas is merely a time of tradition and gift giving may not see China in as positive a light. Christmas shopping is a bit of a pain in China. For one thing, you can't buy Christmas wrap in the stores. Gift giving is not a tradition in China, so there just isn't a market for it, I guess. They do have wrapping stations where you can pay them to wrap it for you, but it is considered a luxury for rich people, and they charge accordingly. It's kinda funny if you go to one of those gift exchange parties, because everyone can see everyone else's presents. But for me, Christmas is not about giving presents. I do think a little of it is nice. But in America, it's just gotten to be too much. Good for business, maybe, but the excessiveness of it seems to detract from the real meaning of Christmas.

Went to the Christmas service at Haidian Church last night. The crowd was incredible. I thought it would be better than last year because of the new church building, but there seem to be lots more people. The interest in Chrismas is really growing in this country. There are three servces on Christmas Eve--one at 6pm, one at 8pm, and one at 10pm. We got there late because the traffic was so bad that the bus couldn't move, so we got off and walked. Pretty obvious we weren't going to get in, so we went to the large cafeteria in the basement of the Disanji building and had a Pepsi. The place closed at 9, but we kept sitting there and talking until they finally threw us out at 9:45. I was curious how things were going at the Church, so I walked across the parking lot. People were moving in for the last service, so we got right in line. Believe it or not we were almost to the front of the line when the police officer standing on the steps with his megaphone annnounced that there were no more seats for the final service, so everyone should just go home. People started to leave, but I told Shannon to stay put. As people left, we moved closer to the front until we were right by the steps. A lady from the church saw me standing there and came out to get me. I feel a little bad for her, because she got more than she bargained for. I brought Shannon, Nancy, and a colleague from work in with me, plus the guy from Africa. There wasn't really room for us, but we were shown to a few seats in the waiting area on the side of the stage. We basically got a side view of the program, but it was nice to be in side with all the lights and pretty music. Made me wonder about all the people who gave up and went home. Some of them had been standing for a long, long time hoping to get a place. But there was no room for them. Long, long ago, at a different time in a different place, a peasant village carpenter and his pregnant wife stood in one line after another waiting to get in. The beautifiul, rustic nativity scene that is so much a part of Christmas, is a result of the rejection that forced this man to deliver his baby in a barn.

Finally got my laptop back this morning. Funny how two or three days so quickly becomes two weeks. I have no idea why replacing a little connector requires switching out the whole mother board. I guess it's really a good thing it was still under warrentee. I tried to be patient, since the whole thing is my fault--I tripped on the cord. Actually, I could have let it go, I guess, because everything worked except for the headphones. But without the headphones, I cannot watch the news or listen to the radio at the the coffee bars. They all have free high speed Internet access, now, and the Internet is my main source of news and information outside of CCTV 9 and China Daily.