?Merry Xmas!? All foreigners received this greeting from English-knowing Chinese last week ? here most assume foreigners to be American. Xmas has been a major event in China?s cities for some time. With Christians making up just one per cent of the population, the visible presence of Xmas in a communist country, where public celebration of any religion continues to be rare, is a tribute to the Christmas industry.

For the urban Chinese, Xmas is simply one more occasion to consume. Doing so this time becomes more pleasurable as the supermarkets are all lit-up, with the bars and cafes playing ?Jingle Bells? and the waitresses looking even sexier in their Santa costumes.

In the special economic zones, where MNCs and foreigners are found in large numbers, local Chinese authorities host a Xmas party, with primary school children sometimes putting up an Xmas show. This year, in a rare display of sensitivity to prisoners, a Shanghai prison even held a party for its foreign inmates!

But the real celebrations are in the five-star international hotels where Westerners ? those who haven?t been able to go home ? meet to eat traditional Xmas dinners. Rates range from 188 yuan to 2,588 yuan ? that was this year?s rate in a top-end Beijing hotel.

Spectacular China

Xmas here is a festival for the young. One hotel asked those born in the Seventies, and possessing a college degree, to join their Xmas costume party at 200 yuan per head. Another Xmas package, which includes a ?complementary Xmas gift and free beers and soft drinks for 1.5 hours?, is valid till March 1, 2005! The proprietor probably wants to set the ball rolling till the end of the spring festival, which includes the Chinese New Year in February, when the really lavish consumption takes place.

Xmas was perhaps always observed in some form in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, China?s international hubs. In Macau, a former Portuguese colony, and in Hong Kong, now part of China, Xmas has been a major festival. But in the last few years, Xmas and New Year have become specially spectacular in Shenzen. This former fishing village shares a land border with Hong Kong, and is all set to become the mainland?s answer to Hong Kong.

Cashing in

This year, ?Mr & Mrs Santa Claus? arrived in Shenzen from Sweden. Posing with them for a photograph cost 50 yuan, the proceeds of which would go to help poor Chinese children. As a New Year gift, Shenzen will have a spanking new Metro, designed by the same MTR corporation that runs Hong Kong?s Metro.

As in India, in China too, the ?festive season? begins in October. October 1-10 are the National Day holidays, to mark the founding of the People?s Republic. Then there?s Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year and finally, the Chinese Spring Festival. For the Chinese economy, the end of the Spring Festival marks the beginning of a new boom-time.

That?s when the bulk orders for toys, gifts, artificial Xmas trees, nativity scene sets and decorations start coming in. It?s estimated that China supplies two-thirds of the world?s Xmas decorations, more than half of them originating in Guangdong. Shenzen supplies 80 per cent of the world?s artificial Xmas trees, including that to the White House. Entire factories are geared towards these orders. Ironically, with increasing trade barriers and quality concerns, as export orders fall, domestic demand for Xmas items has increased.

Incidentally, December 25 is not even a holiday in China. And, for every Christian celebrating Christmas in government-recognized churches, there are reportedly more than two observing it secretly.