Lisa Carducci(加拿大)

　　(本文作者现在《北京周报》做法文编辑)

　　When I was a child in Montr al, the Christmas and New Year's decorations in public places, mainly commercial establishments, seemed to go up earlier and earlier each year. Business rivals wanted to be the first to reach potential customers, so finally decorations were already appearing on All Souls' Day, November 2! Fortunately the municipal authorities put their foot down①: no decorations before December 10 was the rule, if I remember correctly.

　　This year at the Friendship Hotel, where many foreign experts working in Beijing live, a luminous 'Merry Christmas' appeared above the entrance gate on, believe it or not, October 15, a full two months and more before the event! Big Santa Clauses and other images have been stuck on each building door. The trees are decorated with lights, the reindeer have arrived from the North Pole with their sleigh full of gifts -- in short, the whole show is in town②. My dear Chinese readers, if you saw a sign that said 'Let's celebrate our National Day!' on August 1, what would you think? By mid-November at the Friendship Hotel, we had received a pamphlet advertising the Christmas meals to be offered in hotel restaurants. By the time Christmas actually gets here, we will have been so overexposed to decorations that they won't mean anything to us any more.

　　And not only are we exhorted to celebrate Christmas, but specifically an AMERICAN Christmas, as if there were only one way to mark the day. I have strong objections to all this American stuff I see around me. At first I thought I was perhaps being too severe, but when I asked several people from other nations, I found that everyone agreed with me.

　　　The foreign experts living at the Youyi Binguan include many Muslims from India, Pakistan, Iraq, Algeria, Sudan, etc. Recently a plastic Santa Claus was ripped off a door. I think whoever did it made a very clear point, but nothing has changed. Should we vandalise all the decorations to show our sentiments? I know that the authorities at the hotel do their best to please their 'precious foreign guests', but I'm sorry to say that early and ubiquitous American-style Christmas arrangements are not the right way. Should Koreans, Japanese and others be expected to celebrate the Christian holiday? Must Orthodox Russians move up their celebration of Jesus' birth to December 25, when their religious calendar fixes it on what for Western Christians is January 7? Should Catholic Italians, whose main decoration is not a Christmas tree and Santa Claus but a presepio (a recreation of the stable where Jesus was born) and the Befana (an aged sorceress who distributes gifts on January 6) also adopt the American way? Even some Americans at the Friendship Hotel were surprised when they saw Christmas decorations in October, but at least they were spared the shock that people of other nationalities and religions felt.

　　If the intention is to promote friendship between Chinese and foreigners, the American Christmas is not the only way to spread the message. The Muslim Id al-Fitr, or the Jewish Rosh Hashana, the Vietnamese Tet, or Easter in the Catholic manner, there are so many festivals! Each community has its festivals, and its own means of celebrating them, which Chinese friends could be invited to share. If big hotels like the Youyi Binguan put such festivals on their calendar and celebrated them, they would not only show respect for people from other countries and cultures, but also turn themselves into cultural exhibition centres attractive to foreigners and Chinese alike.

　　If China's public institutions absolutely must take note of Christmas, they should keep the Christmas period relatively short. In my opinion, they should also be more circumspect: even though the economy is globalizing (with an American -z-!), different values exist and deserve respect and protection. Celebrating the civil new year on January 1 would be a more judicious choice for state organisations. Not only would they avoid offending anyone, but also make some people happier.