Beware green hat gifts or Yule be very sorry

On Christmas Eve last week, Beijing's restaurants, hotels, clubs and bars were busier than a local traffic cop during rush hour. My Chinese friends were really putting the jingle in Beijing.

There were long queues outside eateries, waiters ran around in Santa hats and the bigger hotels enjoyed even bigger business staging elaborate, star-studded, 1,000-yuan a head parties.

China's A, B, and even C-list celebrities were all gainfully employed hosting gatherings, telling jokes and popping champagne corks. Lucky draw competitions were as popular as ever. Winners walked away, for instance, with two return tickets to Rome, plasma TV sets and the latest video cameras.

But some locals are still a little baffled by the details of the world's biggest religious festival. On Wednesday night last week, one enthusiastic Chinese friend called "Happy Larry" was enjoying the festivities but was still a little puzzled by the event.

"So is there a Christmas countdown at midnight or something and then can we kiss one another?" he asked me with a strange smile.

One American buddy reckons the "winter wonderland" part of Christmas, with the tinsel, the reindeers and the sleigh bells, has strong appeal to the frost-bitten Chinese, who don't have a really big winter celebration.

China, however, does have a winter festival day called "Dong Zhi", which means "winter solstice". It happened on Sunday, Dec 21, and we all were supposed to eat dumplings. However in modern China, this day seems to be overshadowed by Santa Claus, Christmas trees and a lot of ho, ho, ho.

The Christmas invasion has become a problem for some. In previous years, a few idealistic university students were critical of how more Chinese were adopting the Christmas holiday. They believed this foreign festival posed a threat to tradition and urged their fellow citizens to ignore the Yule time.

Most of their fellow Chinese ignored the students instead. The Chinese never need a reason to get together, eat, drink and be merry. Does anybody?

But there are a few Chinese gift-giving traditions, which may save you from future embarrassment.

Did you know there are some presents you should never give anybody?

Firstly, never give your Chinese friend a clock. "Song zhong" (giving clock) can also mean the end has come. You are saying their time is up and you are wishing them death. Watches are OK, but never a clock.

Don't give anybody an umbrella. The san in yu san (umbrella) means crumble or disintegrate. No matter how heavy the rain, you don't want bad luck to rain on their parade.

You should also never give your loved one a pair of shoes. Xie (shoes) sounds the same as evil, and you never want to wish anybody that sentiment, whether it is a $1,000 pair of Jimmy Choo specials or the latest Nike runners.

Finally, if you're in the Nike sports shop and you see a green baseball hat, don't dare buy it as a gift for a male friend. It is a message that his partner is cheating.

I have been told not to worry too much about these old traditions, because it is always the thought that counts, but I had to laugh when I saw the gift my country, Australia, gave to the Peoples Liberation Army.

It was a green hat, and it is on display at the National War Museum in Beijing.

In fact the museum devotes an entire floor to show off gifts from foreign nations. There were swords, ivory carvings, rifles and an Australian Army slouch hat, which happens to be green.

When I saw that green hat sitting there among the other presents, I tipped my hat to the brave diplomat who dared to give a green hat to any man in the world's biggest army. I'm sure the Chinese generals would have quietly laughed too at the presentation ceremony all those years ago.

They wouldn't have fussed. It is always the thought that counts.

(China Daily 12/29/2008 page10)