BEIJING: As the Christmas holiday arrives and Christians
around the world celebrate and share gifts, most Chinese mark the day as
not unlike any other. Businesses and customers this year, too, may have
experienced a slower shop-till-you-drop environment than in the past
for a variety of reasons.
For long, China has been
driving the world’s Christmas economy, with Yiwu, Zhejiang province,
mass producing every conceivable Christmas-themed product.
This
year, all that audiovisual cheer does not seem to be translating into
higher sales in China, said market sources and consumers.
Back-to-back
online shopping festivals on Nov 11 and Dec 12 — with Black Friday and
Cyber Monday thrown in between — appear to have tired shoppers such as
Xiao Xuanwei, 24, a bank teller in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province.
“Well,
11-11 and 12-12 have cleaned out my savings — I’ve already shopped till
I dropped. I’d rather spend Christmas with my smartphone because I
don’t want to hang out with friends either. Gathering friends, selecting
a restaurant that everyone likes, managing party games — heck, that’s a
pain,” Xiao said.
Businesses, having given their all to
online galas, appear to be exhausted as well and going through the
motions, market insiders said.
Moreover, consumers are busy at work.
Zheng
Hao, 23, a postgraduate student in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province,
said he had no special plans for Christmas this year. It’s just another
day. I don’t really have any special feelings for such festivals,
especially when there is no short break from the university.
Also,
unlike in the past when only three major holidays — Spring Festival,
Labour Day and the National Day holiday — marked the year, Chinese now
have more short cultural breaks in the form of the Mid-Autumn Festival,
Tomb-Sweeping Day and Dragon Boat Festival. So, Christmas, as Zheng
said, “is just another day”.
China’s economic resurgence
and strong global standing have also stoked pride and interest in
Chinese culture, values and traditions among the millennials, weaning
them off the urge to copy or revere all things Western, especially
Western brands, according to a survey.
A survey report
said Chinese consumers are growing increasingly loyal to domestic
brands, which don’t do a Christmas-themed hard sell (although internet
marketplace JD organised an online “carnival”, which is just a fraction
of the scale of 11-11 or 12-12).
To be sure, some young
Chinese, such as Wang Hejun, 24, a postgraduate student in Beijing, do
like to live it up during Christmas. “This year, I plan to dine out at
Solana,” a Western-styled exotic shopping plaza that is known for
Christmas culinary delights. “I may not go on a shopping spree though.”
For
Christian expatriates, who do enjoy online shopping festivals,
Christmas continues to be a largely religious affair that is punctuated
with customary shopping for imported turkey and the like at certain
supermarkets, a service at a local church gathering and a get-together
at homes or restaurants offering festive-themed meals, said an
expatriate media professional in Beijing.
Expatriate
students and staff at international schools in China take part in
on-campus charity bazaars in which they buy Christmas-themed candy,
gifts and other paraphernalia.
But this year, they
appear to be too busy with mobile games on weekends. Campus bans on
hand-held devices that facilitate mobile payments via QR codes appear to
have somewhat dampened Christmas sales, said a teacher who requested
anonymity.
