What’s so weird about Hong Kong? #03
Does Santa Claus come to Hong Kong?

Home-made ginger bread, hot wine punch stands and glowing decoration as far as the eye can reach. That’s what most of us associate with Christmas. But how is Christmas celebrated in a region like Hong Kong? Does it even exist there?

The first thing that makes it a bit hard to get into a festive mood here is the weather. It is by far not as cold as in our little Alpine region and a little cardigan is sufficient to be comfortable in outdoor temperatures of around 15–20°C degrees. 

Fortunately there are luminous “Merry Christmas” writings on several high rise buildings, three story Christmas-trees in every shopping mall and “Feliz Navidad” music in most grocery stores that remind you of Christmas.

How do the locals of Hong Kong themselves experience this time of the year, where not even half of the population is religious?
I asked four local girls from my University about their view on this – for us Westerners – quite important festivity.Basically they know the story of Jesus’ birth behind Christmas and the Christians amongst them are going to church especially during this time of the year. Most Hong Kongers though don’t attribute themselves to any religion or are rather associated to Buddhism, Taoism or Confucianism. 

That’s what makes it more of an imported and commercialized festivity rather than a religious one. 

Being a former British colony, Hong Kong is experiencing a big Western influence and festivities like Christmas are a lot more wide spread than in the rest of China.
Traditions like cookie-baking, Christmas trees or cribs aren’t to be found at the girls’ homes. To them Christmas time is mainly shopping time, but maybe a little less stressful, as presents are mostly kept small and don’t have any important meaning. Furthermore it is just another occasion to meet friends and families, as the 25th and 26th of December are public holidays. 

What my four fellow students liked most about Christmas is the atmosphere that the luminous decorations on major squares and in real estates give. What bothers them the most, on the other hand, are the special Christmas offers in restaurants and bars that come along with elevated prices.
In a way they adopted the Western Christmas, but what is more important on their yearly calendar is the lunar New Year, which is a traditional Chinese festivity following the moon cycles. In 2015 it is going to take place on the 19th February.

Photos by Franziska Wellenzohn