December is a Holiday season. In the United States, it gets identified mostly with the Christmas celebration. There are other holidays celebrated at this time as well. The eight-day Jewish holiday, Hanukkah, and the weeklong celebration honoring African-American heritage, Kwanzaa, are two examples.Christmas is more like a Chinese New Year celebration in its spirit and festivity. On the other hand, the Thanksgiving Day celebrated in the North America is a true New World invention that is celebrated by all Americans. It transcends religious boundaries.
The Christmas celebration is now so secularized that the Christians find its connections to consumerism not particularly palatable. How can one include Christ in the parties and buying sprees? And what is the meaning of "Salvation" in the context of the birth of Jesus Christ? If you dare ask, many people will give you a puzzled look without saying explicitly "what's that?"
A significant portion of non-essential and luxury spending takes place between the Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas Eve celebrations. Business is doing everything to entice the customers to spend, with huge sales and new nifty products. It is the defining season for many retail businesses.
Gift exchanges for Americans are reassuring acts of love and care. No one in their right mind will risk damaging relationships, any relationship. The American gift exchange custom suffers from the order of N square complexity, if I may use the computer science jargon. Give N people in a group, you need N*(N-1) gifts to meet the needs of all exchanges. Obviously, business likes this phenomenon.
[What is Christmas to the Chinese?]
It is not hard to understand that the nativity scenes of the Christmas celebration are foreign to most Chinese. Many of my
Chinese friends like the tranquil, snowy "silent night" images of the Christmas season. They appeal to many, and they really transcend cultural boundaries and religious experiences. But the parties and gift exchanges learned from the movies and TV programs from the mega-consumerist USA are picking up steam in the Chinese perceptions of Christmas. The family traditions and religious experiences tend to impress and penetrate the Chinese thinking at a much lower level. Chinese Christians account for around 3 percent of the population. Estimates are difficult to get for the less structured Protestants and many underground "house churches." The official government census points to 1 percent of the population, which is surely a low estimate, because religious affiliations are not viewed positively by the atheistic government.[Socially and Politically Correct Gift Presentation or Exchange]
Normally, opening gifts is the high point of giving and receiving. Surprises and happiness and whatever is socially required need to be expressed appropriately. This is true for Americans. The Chinese tend to view this as impolite and imprudent .
It is important to give gifts to people who can influence your career and promotion. This almost borders on "appeasement" and "bribery" for the Americans. It is also common practice to present gifts in public. I have seen more than once that the grateful Chinese visitors present a gift at the end of workshop or meeting to the host in the US. But, this public act is awkward for many company officials in the US. Accepting gifts can be a serious problem for US government employees. Legally, government employees must follow a guideline in receiving gifts such as, "A gift valued at $20 or less, provided that the total value of gifts from the same person is not more than $50 in a calendar year."
Gift exchanges are not that familiar to the Chinese. Chinese gift giving has quite a different meaning. The substance is more important than the appearance. Thus, gift wrapping is not that critical as long as what's inside has good value. Giving gifts is a show of appreciation and gratitude. Thus, the notion of love and sharing is not really there in the traditional Chinese gift-giving mentality.
[Altruism, Sharing and Giving can be learned]
Children in the US are taught to share from an early age. I still remember my children had to bring toys to school to do show-and-tell and to share with other kids in the class. Giving and sharing can be learned, and is easy when one is or feels self-sufficient. Although Christian institutions have less control nowadays over their herds, it is evident everywhere that the Christian faith influences day-to-day living. This sort of altruism, unconditional love and giving is quite unusual to the Chinese.
Chinese tend to be very practical when it comes to gift giving or doing good deeds. The influence of Buddhism leads people to do good primarily to accumulate virtues and credits for good future lives. And it could also be a penance for some wrong-doing in a past life. Christians have a long history of similar ideas, without the notion of cyclic incarnations. On the other hand, Christian faith has a deep tie-in to the sinfulness of human nature. Chinese have hard time believing the notion of "original sin." Religions, as they were, have hard time thriving among modern intellectuals, because they have hard time wrapping themselves into a system of axioms and perpetual cycles.
[Communal and Family Gift]
It is only in recent times that children receive gifts other than the "red packet (with cash in it)." Even so, gift giving is still somewhat a communal and family thing. The gifts tend to be practical, such as new school outfits to replace the old ones. Family members give to each other the things they need as a family. Toys and other intangible items were just too much of a luxury in the past, but they start to appear as Chinese society gets more affluent. Come to think of this practicality matter, the most appreciated precious metals is "gold" still. The gold chains, pendants and bracelets are all good for jewelry and as expensive gifts, yet they are particularly useful when economical hardships hit. Can this explain why diamonds were not that popular in the past?
[Gift Recycling - Green by accident? ;-)]
Gift recycling is not unusual at all for the Chinese, especially in the two most important gift-giving seasons, the Chinese New
Year and the mid-Autumn Festival. Non-perishables like expensive cigarettes and liquors can change hands many, many times. You'll hear some stories that people find a good sum of cash in the cigarette carton when someone finally opens the gift. It is also common in China that your work unit or company gives some gifts to employees during Chinese New Year and the mid-Autumn Festival as a token of appreciation. It is a type of bonus.[Gift to the Unknowns - Philanthropy]
The ultimate challenge to Chinese society, or any society for that matter, is to see the rise of philanthropic activities. The willingness to give and share unconditionally is part of a great and mature civilization. Chinese often like to talk about and hope to become a dominant force on the world stage. I would say that when acts of philanthropy start to unveil, then I shall believe that a universal and all-embracing culture is maturing, and that it will become the light and envy of the world.
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