Christmas calling Chinese parents

The Christmas season is here again and Chinese cities seem to be catching on the festive spirit with Christmas trees displayed in or in front of many shopping malls. But, and it is a huge but, if Christmas is about anything it is about children and the beautifully gift-wrapped presents they receive from their parents, families and friends.

Chinese children will soon revel in the excitement of the Lunar New Year and the hong bao, or red envelopes of money, they will receive from family members. It will always be the most special time of year for them. The Lunar New Year is special also because families make huge efforts to be together, something that all children eagerly look forward to.

But why not introduce Chinese children to stockings or pillowcases full of Christmas presents wrapped in multi-colored wrapping paper and add to their excitement?

My research with Chinese students over the years has touched on Christmas celebrations and the mere mention of the word "Christmas" has evoked immediate and excited discussions on Christmas presents. My students have said the Lunar New Year and hong bao are (and will remain) the most important celebrations for them. They don't see Christmas as a rival or religious celebration. For them, Christmas it just another opportunity to have fun and enjoy a family reunion.

In particular, my research among younger Chinese suggest the secrecy that leads up to Christmas Day - especially to the opening of presents - is the most exciting and pleasurable aspect of the festival. For most of us fortunate enough to have grown up celebrating Christmas, our first thoughts associated with the word "Christmas" are of the misty magical moments we experienced as young children on Christmas mornings.

Not knowing what presents to expect and then confronting a pile of carefully wrapped gifts push children's emotions to the limit. Such a cathartic moment for children is probably only matched by the joyous feeling experienced by parents and perhaps other family members as they watch the presents being opened. Children's faces, as at first they delicately but later desperately remove each layer of Christmas wrapping, convey a multitude of emotions ranging from anxious anticipation to an explosion of joy - which can only be seen to be believed.

Presents are only to be opened on Christmas morning, not before, and can either be placed around a fully decorated Christmas tree in the living room or kept hidden until Christmas Eve and then placed inside a pillowcase and left at the foot of a child's bed.

Such is the emotional intensity of the experience of opening a present for a young child that it almost overtakes any consideration of what actually is hidden beneath the layers of wrapping. Christmas presents are more about the thoughts of loved ones than money or material value.

Chinese youngsters are similar to their Western counterparts. They, too, are driven by the attraction of a variety of presents and unalloyed happiness rather than by material gain.

At a time when Chinese parents appear to be working harder but, in the process, are widening the physical and mental distance between themselves and their offspring, a Christmas present will certainly contribute to a warmer and happier family environment and bring unlimited joy in their children's lives.

So, come on all you Chinese parents, add more light and color to your children's lives by buying them some Christmas presents. And be ready, camera in hand, when they open them, for the photographs will rank as the most prized ones in your life.

And Chinese fathers, could you please dress up as Santa Claus, complete with white beard and moustache, to give your children a pleasant surprise?

Christmas festivity will never replace Lunar New Year celebrations and Christmas presents can never rival the hong bao, but they can certainly bring some much-needed fun in your children's lives.

The author is a researcher at Nottingham University's School of Contemporary Chinese Studies.

(China Daily 12/21/2012 page9)