Christmas Gimmick in China

If you are from the West and you will tour the main land China during christmas season these days, you will not feel the loneliness of being away from home especially if you will stay at Crowne Plaza Hotel. Dressed in a Santa suit, Richard Goodman hopes to make Chinese people discover what Christmas means in the other part of the world. He is a 63 year old retiree from the aerospace industry who wishes to make a living out of making people happy by bringing the old Santa to life. He must be the most authentic Santa that you will see in this part of the world as he is a proud member of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas. He has been on this Santa job for nearly 40 years now. He started the Santa job as a substitute for a sick one. He appeared to be convincing which made him do it again and again. The word of mouth has made him land on other Santa jobs on different malls. Ten years ago, Richard signed up for SantaforHire.com, an organization that sends Santas to different parts of the country. Just five years ago, Richard started to take Santa jobs in China after a friend recruited him. Although China has long been accustomed with Christianity and christmas, celebrating the yuletide is still different from how it is celebrated in the Western countries. It still lives the culture where few people are aware about the story of St. Nicolas and the tradition he carries. Santa has started invading the curiosity of Chinese this season. He is getting into a culture where few people are aware of how things go in the West during the holidays. As Santa introduces the Christmas tradition, the Chinese crowd looks bewildered. When given cookies, most of the people wondered what it is for. Some adults even wanted to have their share when it is traditionally given to kids only. It seems ironic that though toys are made here, you will rarely find them wrapped beneath a Christmas tree. It is Crowne Plaza's initiative to come up with the idea of introducing Santa to the Chinese crowd especially during the yuletide season to invade the competition and to make Western visitors forget that they are away from home thus continue to enjoy their stay in China. Crowne Plaza officials brag about their unique idea of celebrating the holidays, reports said. Their Santa must be the most unique and authentic Santa that you'll ever see in a country where even the idea of its existence doesn't exist. It's not an easy job though in the case of Richard. He is invading a culture where Christmas is a new idea. He has to take his family with him and celebrate Christmas away from home. Good that everything that they need are provided for by the hotel; air fare, room accommodation and meals. The job itself pays well too. His family has been used to celebrating their Christmases in China. Richard and other members of the SantaforHire.com are more than glad to see not only how their audience feel glad about the event they host but most importantly their awareness of the most wonderful event of the world, the Christmas season. Christmas Gimmick in China is a post from: Traveling China from Traveling China http://www.chinaya.org

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