The New Holidays of China...

It’s the holiday season in Beijing and not the kind of holidays many of us associate with this part of the world. Christmas wreaths, plastic snow men, over sized candy canes and holiday decorations of all sorts can be found in the markets at Flower Street just past the lines of visa seekers outside the US Embassy. Christmas trees are everywhere, in commercial establishments and can been seen even at night in the windows of private apartments… “Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer” is played in every mall, holiday decorations are in every hotel, red and white ribbons adorn the columns of buildings and many businesses… and the government favors this development… obviously not for the religious significance but as part of the effort to stimulate domestic consumption. The Crowne Plaza Hotel is advertising a kind of “Holiday on Ice” package and a private development where I had lunch was pushing their “Christmas Casino Night” with fireworks… all aimed at getting Chinese consumers to spend more.

For some this is certainly sacrilege… my Chinese friends tell me that their children have started to have “Halloween” parties in school and that “Thanksgiving” (yes, the old fashioned American Thanksgiving) is now a solid part of the landscape. They note that the traditional Chinese holidays while still celebrated, are under assault by this latest form of creeping “Western Imperialism”. And it’s certainly true… in part. Only a few years ago, few in China knew of “Thanksgiving” and “Halloween” and now they are widely celebrated. But then again, so is Michael Jackson.

True, these celebrations are Western creations but should my Chinese friends be surprised that they are being woven into the fabric of a nation that produces these artificial trees for the world, makes the plastic Santas, assembles the Christmas wreaths and produces all the festival regalia associated with these Western celebrations? These plastic manifestations of Western holidays have brought employment and wealth to China and so in a certain sense it’s not surprising that they have influenced the producers.

At the same time it’s natural for people to look for meaning and I think it's not a surprise that many Chinese seek rituals to fill their lives. You see this at a Buddhist temple in downtown Shanghai or in temples outside Beijing… there is a natural human longing for meaning and spiritual substance. But as everyone knows, religion in China is minimized… regulated... and the government works to control avenues of belief.

The major religion in China at the moment is arguably “Commercialism” not “Confucianism”, not even “Communism”… I’ve seen too many plastic Chairman Maos for sale to believe "The Party" is in complete control... Economic activity is celebrated and in the absence of religion and spirituality something must fill the void. So, why not a plastic Santa?… or a tree?…

It’s cold in Beijing this December and for a Westerner I’ll admit it seems a bit more like home… warm chestnuts on the street and holiday wreaths everywhere… but what must my Chinese friends be thinking and feeling about these developments? I guess many would say it’s the price of modernization, the price of raising the standard of living for the Chinese people. But what will it mean in the long run?

Well enough of this, I’ve got to take down my artificial wreath and drag those inflatable Santas out of the front yard.

Forgeries, counterfeits and taxes

I’ve just returned from China and I’ll admit it… in the past I’ve bought a few $1 DVDs of “still in the theatre” films but I stopped doing this a few yeas ago. I also once bought a “North Face” jacket in a market in Beijing for $20. I’m sure these transactions were “a bit dodgy” and know that the RIAA and the Interpol are likely hot on my heels… well, maybe not. I swear I’ve changed my ways and I’m sure there are bigger offenders out there.

However, I’m in Beijing in December and the Christmas season is in full swing with all the trimmings… fake trees, fake wreaths, plastic bells and Santas abound. Forgeries and fakes in China? … come on now…

On the front page of the “Metro” section of the China Daily (December 15, 2009) two of the four featured stories seem relevant to this theme…. First, an auction of Chinese paintings and artworks by a well known Beijing auction company was cancelled because some of the artworks were deemed “controversial”. Now in the U.S. I would assume that the art has been viewed as offensive in some way… perhaps the art offends some because it's focused on taboo subjects or the artist goes too far in portraying political or religious icons in some offensive postures… but in this case “controversial” means “fake”… quite simply it appears that many of these artworks (which were expected to fetch high prices) are “forgeries” and not very good ones.

Yes, I’d say “controversial” is a word that could be used in this case although it appears an odd choice at first… apparently it’s not illegal for art auction companies to pass off forgeries as the real thing here… according to the article “there is no sound regulation yet” but the artists and their relatives feel the auction company “should at least have a sense of morality.” The artists also report they are offended by the low quality of the forgeries... feeling the counterfeits which bears their name will drive down prices for the "real things."

The second story is more prominent, “above the fold” and focuses on vendors brazenly hawking fake invoices for employees. In this case the advertisements can be seen pasted to trash bins, on the ground and all over the place in public transportation areas (yes, the image that appears here is one of the many pasted on the ground near the Tsinghua Research Park). Apparently it’s the time of the year for workers to turn in receipts for reimbursement and the pressure to buy fake or second hand receipts (called fapiao in Chinese) is intense as people juggle their finances. As if it wasn’t bad enough even these forgeries (as most seem to be) are not very good ones… like the artwork, accountants at companies are quite competent at detecting and rejecting counterfeits.

However, it’s bonus time in China and many employees are desperate to get enough receipts for expenses that are not taxable by the government and account for a good percentage of their annual salaries.

According to the China Daily, when informed by the newspaper of this very visible and illegal activity, the local police reported they had not noticed but would send some officers over to check it out. My friends tell me that sometimes the police actually do show up and enforce the law in a rough fashion… in response, the local counterfeiters have begun using women with babies and small children as fronts… the police tend to respond less harshly when confronted with this activity by women and children!

The national government recognizes this is a problem and has announced that they will print new tax invoices (presumably more difficult to counterfeit) next year. Good luck! I expect to see the same red and white stickers next December.

Beijing in December

December is a mixed time to visit Beijing. Occasionally you get one of those cold clear days but it’s often cold and smoggy. You can smell the smoke from burning firewood as you leave the main roads away from downtown and everything seems gray or mottled brown in tone. Even the festive Christmas decorations on the street (yes, in Beijing), in the stores or the elaborate displays in hotels don’t help much. Inside the buildings the conversations are warm, people are laughing and while there is a global recession it’s hard to tell from the active life in Beijing… at least from the traffic and the crowds in the restaurants. It’s cold and the first major snow has come and gone with only some remains of the stuff still around. I wonder how crowded the Great Wall is with tourists today? Not the best time of the year to visit, glad I brought my gloves.

I’m here for a week, meeting with colleagues from around the world who work with or serve on the boards of Confucius Institutes. These centers, usually located on college campuses are a systematic effort by the education branch of the Chinese Government, the Han Ban, to develop Chinese language skills and spread knowledge of Chinese culture. Controversial at times for obvious reasons, some logical, some emotional.

Dinner Saturday night was in “The Great Hall of the People”. We arrived in a motorcade of buses from the convention center near the Olympic Stadium. We all jammed into the hall through the doors and the limited number of security check points trying to get out of the cold weather and into the bright hall… reminded me a bit of the lines in immigration at Narita. The program was short and the table talk brightened our moods. Our table… Purdue folks and colleagues from Australia, Oregon and the Ukraine.

Sunday evening was a Purdue alumni reception… the talk was of Beijing and Shanghai housing prices, not the recession or the weather. Beijing housing prices have jumped about 40% in the last few years. Optimism abounds among the participants and strong positive feelings prevail as the Chinese economy looks better. Last week the China Daily reported that MBA applications are way up, the top programs are increasing tuition by about 30% and the central government has approved 55 new MBA programs for next year… a huge increase (there are currently 127 approved programs). Meanwhile back in Indiana the talk is of “a jobless recovery… more cuts to higher education”…. Maybe I’ll stay a bit longer… it can be a bit gloomy this time of year in Beijing but there are still the bright Christmas decorations and the shine of new Mercedes… looks to me like a pretty good year for China… I just wish I was further south. Warm weather would be so nice.