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Ho, ho, ho! Somebody call the ACLU!
Courtyards built during ancient dynasties are decked with boughs of plastic holly. The stockings are hung by the straw-paper lanterns with care. And on Friday, something truly rare happened in China's bone-dry capital: It snowed.The timing was ideal. Because in Beijing this month, Shengdan Laoren — literally, "Old Christmas Guy" — is coming to town. Marx's manifesto made no room for God, and you'd think that would include Christmas. But in the belly of global communism — which happens to be the largest emerging bastion of global capitalism — better think again. A commercialized version of Christ's birthday is thriving in urban China, in form if not in faith. Just ask Xiao Bai, a young noodle-shop employee on Wangfujing, Beijing's premier shopping street. He was dispatched this week to dress in red, don a white beard and distribute party favors to passers-by with a hearty "Ho! Ho! Ho!" and a Chinese-style "Welcome to our door." "Chinese people, they all love Christmas," said Bai, who proffers an earnest if skinny interpretation of Old St. Nick. "Every kid that passes me knows about Santa Claus. The few who don't think I'm just an old grandpa in red. You want a balloon?" <WHINE>If they can do it, why can't we?</WHINE> Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-12-20 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=8649 |