How important is Christmas in China ?

This might be something People in America are going to wonder about . How do the Chinese celebrate Christmas .. if at all ? Having been in China four times , but never during this Special Holiday in the western World .
This article I found while I was asking myself this very question .. How important is Christmas to the Chinese ?

Knowing their biggest Holiday is soon coming too , which is the well known Spring Festival . The difference between the two , is that their Holiday ( actually Holiday DAYS ) is never a set date like Christmas is .

So this raises another question , how many Catholics or People from other Faith's that celebrate this Holiday .. are there living in all of China ? Somewhere I heard , about 2-4 Million and this Religion/Faith is growing by the day/months .

Anyway , here is what I found out of Shanghai today .


SHANGHAI, China: The Lunar New Year is celebrated in a big way in China but Christmas is also fast gaining popularity as a time to celebrate as well.Yu Hsi, Professor of Sociology at Fudan University, said: "Its popularity is easy to understand because of China's 30-year opening up and reform policy. The opening up and reform policy had many Western influences including certain Western lifestyle culture Christmas, being the most important festival in the western, is a symbol of western festivals."This festival has since been adopted by citizens living in China's big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai which are more developed."Florists have noticed yearly increases in sales of Christmas trees. At the Rosa Gallica, a shop in the popular French Concession, sales of Christmas trees have gone up by 30 per cent."The number of our Chinese customers has been increasing. In the past, the ratio of foreigners is around 80 to 90 per cent but now we have more and more Chinese customers," said Huang Qiu Ping, manager of Rosa Gallica.At wholesale store DR, sales of decorations are also picking up. "Sales has increased by 20 per cent this Christmas period compared with last year perhaps because of the financial crisis. This year is better," said Zhang Peng, the owner of DR.More and more locals are also getting into the act of gift giving as well. "We would buy (Christmas decorations) every year because my friends and I will spend the festival at my house. We often drop by the stores to buy Christmas decorations to create the Christmas atmosphere...we would exchange presents with each other and have a Christmas feast at home," said one."We bought decoration balls and Christmas tree to decorating our company...for example, the Christmas will be displayed in our company and the smaller trees would be placed at our work stations," said another.Professor Yu said that the popularity of Christmas was not promoted but something "spontaneous"."For the young Chinese, Christmas is a symbol showing their willingness to live this way...the popularity of Christmas is not promoted by the government. It's basically spontaneous."In China, there is no religious attachment to Christmas celebrations and it is also not a public holiday. However, that is not stopping many shopping centres from cashing in on the popularity of this festive season by offering discounts.


So this article shows exactly what I have experienced being Married to a Chinese ( Shanghainese) Woman , by the Photo's/Card's and in writing over the long period while waiting to be together with my LaoPo again . So watch out World , soon there will be all the artificial Christmas Tree's be coming out of China too .. " Made in China " !
Anybody seen this before

Christmas is approaching .

As the last Holiday of the Year is approaching , there are some things that I hear over the Air-ways ( Radio ) and from some People that heard the same thing .

What I mean by that , there is Talk ( I hope it just is ... ) of getting rid of saying Merry Christmas and just calling it Happy Holidays . This of course gets me quite upset , thinking they have done this already to the Oktoberfest here in California and calling it "Fall Festival" . In that case , I think .. that our "Political Correct" Goofballs .. don't want to be connected to the German Fest .. which includes of course Beer Drinking . That is so much Forbidden here at just about every Public event , that it is funny .

Anyway , back to Christmas . Now they want to change that too . I have no doubt that they will also succeed and have their way . It is really amazing , how People from other Countries .. come HERE and push our ( since this Country was build ) Believes to the side and be store theirs onto us . Wasn't it just last year in Seattle where they had to remove a large Christmas Tree in a Public Square , because of such non-sense ?

Am I the only one here , wondering where will this all take us and where will it end ???

So with this I like to wish everybody a wonderful

" Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year "

I will not and never will .. call it anything but what I believe is CORRECT !

Everybody's Talkin..no -no .. I mean Shopping !

Ahhh .. Christmas Time is here again and soon the Year is "Full" ones more .

This is of course time to think what to get/buy for your special Spouse ? This went back and forth for some time now and finally we had decided on something for both of us .

If anyone wants to guess ? What is very popular in China ?

WRONG !!!

We are getting ourselves something we love to Play in our Free time ... Ping Pong ! Yes , a nice Ping Pong Table for the Garage in Winter and back Porch in better weather . Qing and I have still something to settle .. as I was too mean and beat up on my LaoPo in Shanghai the last time we hit the little white Ball back and forth . Oh .. I promised not to rub it in , but on the other Hand .. she's not here while I'm writing this and when she reads it .. I'll be at Work . haha

Some promised Photo's .

As one can see , some of them Pictues are from our Home and the other one .. right after a nice Dinner at a Restaurant not far from our House .

A wonderful Day .. with Qing's Cousin .

As mentioned before , we postponed our Meeting with Qing's Cousin from Monday to Tuesday .
I took the day off from Work , Qing was not scheduled to work that day anyway . So all was clear to go and Visit ( pick up actually ) her Cousin in Covina , which is about 80 miles one-way . This meant , that today we will make two round-trip's from our Home . No problem though , as this is going to be the " First " Family member from Qing's side .. coming to our House .

We arrived about 1:00 pm at the Hotel he was staying , with about 20 other Government member's he Traveled with from Shanghai . When they come here , they come with an Army of VP's of different Companies .
Anyway , after meeting and exchanging Gift's .. it was going back to our House for a Tour/Snack/Talking of course .. until it was time for taking the Guest out for a nice Dinner at a nearby Restaurant .

That was a blast , even though .. none of us ordered any Alcoholic Drinks . After stuffing us plenty , it was already nightfall and to need to take the Cousin back to Covina . His Flight was leaving the next Morning out of Ontario Airport to Frisco and back to China from there .

Back at the Hotel , inside for a last minute Cup of Coffee and our best wishes for all back to Qing's Family and His also . The final point he made , was .. that he will give ME a good Grade at Qing's Parent's House . I think , I've earned this .. as I treat Qing like no other .. including myself !!!

Of course , now we have to report Back to China ( Shanghai ) for a Visit by next year . At the moment , this is a problem for us .. as my Mom wants us to go to Germany , our Neighbor wants us to go with them to El Salvador and now the China must . Maybe I'll win the Lottery by then , then .. I'll go to all three and maybe some other's too .

Ps: As a side note ; I can be more grateful for the wonderful Gift's we both received from Qing's Family and now her Cousin . My first Brook's Brother TIE ( $ 115 ) and Qing's 4 oz. Perfume ( CD ) that I'm sure top's my Tie . I am very lucky to have married into such a " Great " Family .

( Photo's later , sorry still on Camera only ) .

How things feel being reversed on you ?

Come to think , now when I'm at Home and my LaoPo is working .. it's quite a turn-around . For myself mostly I'd say . Working in the Back Yard most of the Morning and cleaning things up , for the Cousin's Visit . Which by the way , is going to happen on Tuesday instead . It looks , Schedules for those Gov. People is never carved in Stone . Anyway , this does not interfere with meeting him on that Day .

So , now that I have finished that work in the Back of the House and sitting on the Computer .. I started to think . Yes , thinking what my LaoPo went through .. being by herself all those day's/week's and even month's .. while I'm at work .

Here it is only a short time for me , not seeing my Sweetheart here when I'm Home . Strange it is indeed ! But , it reminds me of course how my poor Qing must of felt .. day in - day-out during the past year . This shows , that she is a very strong Person .. I mean .. she never ones complained about it or even give me the slightest hind that she was bored . Something that would come out of a Teenager's Mouth real fast , but Qing is an Adult and knows how to keep herself busy .

For myself , it's not so simple now . Before I was married to my LaoPo , I could have watch the Tube for Hours or work outside and keep busy myself . Now , I hardly watch an TV anymore ( one Hour at night ) , so it is a little harder on me . Especially , when I'm done with Yard work . I find myself looking to keep myself occupied .

Ahhh .. two minutes til 5:00pm and my LaoPo will be Home soon now . So I worry about this , some other time .
Her arriving at the front Door , is like the time she arrived here in LA .. very ..very .. Welcomed !

Monday should be an interesting Day !

This coming Monday , will be a first for both Qing and Myself .
We are having Qing's Cousin , that is the last couple of weeks , traveling both Coast's for the Chinese Government . He's traveling with some other Guy's from China ( Shanghai ) for some Investment Deals here in the US .

This means , we get for the first time to Meet one of Qing's Family member here in California . This is of course very exciting for my LaoPo . So we make every effort to meet up on Monday . The only day he can meet us , so I need to take a day off my Work and Qing needs to do the same .. if she's scheduled for work that day . That we'll find out today .

He is going to have to tell both of us , about .. how he likes it here in America so far .. of what he has seen . Being an Important Government Employee and traveling in Style , I have a feeling that he is not really seeing the bad part of this Economy . We will invite him into our Home and see first hand how the average Guy lives and what it is like living in a " BIG " to them anyway .. House .. instead an Apartment that are so dominant in Shanghai .

As he was not born in Shanghai , his Shanghainese is limited .. so Qing will bring out her Mandarin and I will bring out my Chinglish and my Hospitality .

Something new for next year .

I want hereby say Welcome to my Blog , to all my Face-book Friends and Follower's .
As one can see , my Blog goes back to March of 2009 .. when a Friend suggested I start one . This has helped me a great deal , to overcome the time .. waiting for my next Trip to see my LaoPo in Shanghai again . It also covers now how we both adjust ( being finally together ) to daily Life .
So again Welcome to my Blog and feel free to leave Comment's or join as a Follower , as both are Free .

If in the next year , one thinks I'm getting boring .. please let me know .. I value any Opinion .. to make this not only Fun but also Enjoyable and be of Help to some that might think of making that very same Journey some day in the Future .

To finish up the Year .

Last , I want to just summarize some of the Family Member's Qing has met this past year .

Of course my Mom , Aunt and Uncle were the first ones .
Seven of my first Cousins and their Wife's/Husband's & Kid's of theirs .
Half a dozen of my late Wife's Cousins , three Aunt's and Uncle .
Three ( from seven ) Sister In-laws w/ Husbands/Kids and one Brother In-law w/ Wife /one Daughter .
One of my six remaining Step- Children ( the oldest ) and her three Daughter's and their/my great-grand kids .
One Ex- Sister In-law w/ Daughter .
My Father and Mother In-law ( she passed away ) .
All my Neighbors and Friends .

Still to come ; My Brother's & their Family's .
A few Aunt's and Uncle's and many Cousin , all in Germany and other States here in the US .

So far , Qing's been to two Funeral's with me ( late wife's Uncle ) and my Mother In-law .
No Weddings so far .

Do they like/love my LaoPo ?

YES: 98 %
NO: 2%

Don't ask who the 2 % are , because I don't know . Figure , it's NEVER 100 % anything with Family .

Food for the Soul .

Before my Sweetheart arrived here at the " Bee's " Nest , I was really worried about this very Subject .

How will Qing adjust away from the daily Chinese Food ? Food that she grew up with and I began to Love more than western Food . Now that it's been a Year , what is actually being put on the Dinner Table each day .
One thing , I can say .. it's not Pizza ones a week . Qing has really started to not only like some of the Dishes I've shown her how to make , but she is going real well with them .
A couple that stand out ; are German Dishes like .. Bratwurst - Fried Potatoes/Potato Dumplings ( northern or southern Style ) Red Cabbage or Sauerkraut . Depends on what I want as a Vegetable .
Schnitzel/Pork chop with Brusselsprout's and Mashpotatoes w. Gravy . As you can see , Qing loves Potatoes as much as Rice . I call it an even split between the two .

She also loves to use our Bar-B-Que/ Smoker , to smoke some of the best Baby-back Rib's that I ever had the pleasure of eating .
One thing I still do and help with is , doing Steak and Pasta's . Reminds me , just the other day .. we had homemade Taco's ( for the first time ) with all the fixings .. that would have pleased a Mexican Crowd .

What Chinese Food concerns , there are just no words to describe it .. just great and taking you back to China . The Food I had the pleasure of being spoiled with from Qing's Parent's , mostly her Father .

Not to forget , now we are Baking Cakes of all kinds . So far , nobody passed away yet .. by eating them . haha

I'd say , all my earlier worries .. were all for nothing really . Qing could have not adjusted better . She even likes In"n"Out Burger's and eat's French fries too . We have NOT been to a KFC or McDonalds as of yet . Maybe KFC , just to see if my LaoPo thinks it's the same as back Home .

May I add , the only one that has gained weight is Me . Qing's has not changed since she's here . It must be , the way she cooks them Potatoes ?

The weekend Get-Away's .

I like to summarize all the nice Places Qing and I have been to , during this first year in California .

We start out with a three hour drive to Paso Robles ( Cousin ) . Before night fall , we'll head down to Cambria for a stroll through this Tourist Town near the Beach . After spending the night at my Cousin's House , we drove down the Coast Highway to Los Osos to visit my former Sister in-law and her Daughter . She took Qing and myself to Morro Bay for a wonderful Lunch and on to see more of beautiful places near her Home by the Beach .
We did not get to spend a night there , because it was Sunday and I worked the next day .. unfortunately . Ahead was now again a three hour drive back Home , but not the same Hwy. we arrived to this area . There wasn't much to see , as it was after 8:00 pm when starting to head Home . I myself like night driving so much better , less Traffic through Mountainous Roads . Nobody to slow you down , so a steady 75-80 mph most of the time . Don't tell anybody !!!

Other Trips , include to Santa Monica/Venice Beaches for a nice relaxing Bicycle Ride up and down the Beach front and by the Famous Santa Monica Pier . Of course we stopped there also , for nothing more for some Fun and getting onto the "New" Farris-wheel on the Pier . That was very Romantic .. I must add . Qing also enjoyed the Marina Del Rey/Venice with it's many Canal's and Venice ( Italy ) bridges over them . Not to mention the wonderful Homes in that area . I could tell , Qing would love to live in one of those .. heck .. so would I .

Many Trips to Pasadena ( Qing's favourite City ) , especially to the Gardens .. mentioned in my earlier Blog Post .

Next over-night get-away was to be in San Diego . With plans to go to Old Town - Seaport Village - The Zoo - Point Loma - Balboa Park and not to forget to Meet up with .. no other than Ed Watson from our Forum . This reminded me , how much prettier San Diego is over Los Angeles . Another great weekend for sure for both of us . As a special Surprise , I even took Qing over the Border to Mexico and to make it more interesting .. I did it without a Passport ( explained in another Post ) of mine .

Other one Day outings include a Trip to my Uncle's Cabin in Pine Mountain ( 70 miles from LA ) . Into the Palms Spring area for both Christmas and Thanksgiving Family Dinner's , that welcome my LaoPo as one of the Family with open Arms .

Now for the Trip's that " Almost " happened .
I did plan a Anniversary ( May ) Trip to wonderful Carmel by the Sea . Also including Monterey and a drive to San Francisco , with Chinatown as the main point of that drive . Thinking of a Bay Cruise too , if time would permit it .
The second almost Visit , was to Las Vegas . But that turned out to become only an Reservation and nothing else .
Going there kind of scares Qing . I don't know what it is ? Either , it's being afraid of the Gambling or Spending Money that she thinks is wasteful . I really can't argue with that , can I now ?

Of course in the coming year , we will make plans to Visit other wonderful Site's/Park's within .. let's say no more then .. seven eight Hours of Driving . With that in Mind , I'm thinking of ..
Carmel-Frisco-Yosemite Park-Grand Canyon-Las Vegas (again) and San Diego one more time . Anybody thinking of Disneyland , maybe not .. Qing says .. I've been to the one in Tokyo already ! In other words , they are all the same and are mostly for Kids . I've been there many times myself , so no lose to me .

Interesting Places Qing has been to so far .

Here is a collection of places we have visited since Qing is here and places we almost been to .. haha .

After meeting with my Aunt and Uncle , the first place we visited was my Sister in-law and her Husband in Pasadena . We were invited for Lunch on the Town , which included a very nice Tour of Old Town Pasadena . Then , it was to have a break for some French Coffee and Pastry at a Bakery that was one of my Sister in-laws favourite . Qing and I both had a surprise on hand there . The Cups one would drink their Coffee out of , were actually made out of Chocolate .. yes one could eat them afterwards . Leave it up to the French to think of such a thing .

For another treat , they took us to the Huntington Garden and Art Museum's . All I can say , a wonderful day that has been . Even purchased a one year Membership at those wonderful Gardens , which includes a great Chinese Garden . Takes you right back to China , if you ever been there .

Second , it was a Party at our Neighbors House .. so all his and my Friends could meet Qing and welcome her to America . When you don't go Home til after two in the Morning , one would think it was a great Party . After all , we did not have to drive Home .. only Walk ( we managed ) a few yards .. after being pointed in the " Right " direction .

Next on the List , was go to Immigration Lawyer and get the Green Card fixed .. as it had the wrong Name on it . Ahh .. the Government , never satisfied with just " ONE " mistake . Had to do the same with Qing's Social Security Card also . That's more like it !
Following this , we took ourselves to the 99 Ranch Market for some items that Qing would easy recognize . Asian Food-shopping that was a must on many things to do . Having my LaoPo happy and smiling , while finding many of the very Sauces/Spices/Noodles ect. ect . that she's used to using in her Hometown . This Market receives about one Visit from us per Month . I'm thankful for having one not too far away and of course having one at all . Let me say instead , my Stomach is thankful !!! Great Chinese Dishes await me after Work and not let me forget the great Food I had on my four Trips to China .
I even tell Qing , go and buy yourself those " Chicken Feet " she loves so much . But , she will not , as I don't really care for them like she does . I prefer rather Kissing my Sweetheart's feet , then .. eating feet of other's .

With the Cabinet's and Fridge full of good thing's , it was time to think and plan for a weekend Trip somewhere .. not to far from Home .. as Qing is not use to driving large distances yet .

continued ....