Christmas is upon us again. This year, I’m in Australia, but I’ll be thinking about Christmas in China, which I’ve been fortunate to experience on a number of occasions.

This photo by Keemz of a Christmas tree in Beijing got me thinking about past Christmases in China:

License

I guess I should say that I’m happy to spend Christmas here in Australia, with my family – and I am – but part of me will miss the experience of spending Christmas in China:

• The camaraderie with other foreign teachers as we celebrate a Western festival in a non Western country and find ways of making it ‘like home’
• The excitement of my students, which hardened Western high school / university students don’t want to match
• The bustle of the shops on Christmas Eve
• The fire works that will go off on Christmas Eve
• The general surrealness of Christmas in China

Of course, I won’t miss:

• The absence of family
• The fact that most people work on Christmas Day (even if I don’t have to)
• That Christmas Day is a non event compared to Christmas Eve
• That there’s no such thing as Boxing Day (although the same goes for the US)

I hope you all have a great Christmas wherever you are.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

It’s been a while since I posted a photo I’ve found on Flickr, but when I came across this photo of intertwined padlocks on the Great Wall of China by nuck, it just cried out to be included here.

License

Nuck’s comment on the photo is as follows:

Young couples interlock padlocks on gates dotting the Great Wall in the belief it will bring the strength of the wall to their relationships.

I never knew that! I can’t remember seeing any padlocks on the Great Wall of China, but I guess if I had seen some, I wouldn’t have thought of them as being significant.

It just goes to show that the Chinese are quite superstitious. In cases like this, I like it! It’s both romantic and endearing. There are times when the superstitions are less appealing however (like when I can’t do something because of a superstition!).

Anyway, I liked the concept when I saw the photo, but the clincher was that it was set on the Great Wall of China, a place I’ve visited and a place of such significance for China.

I’ve seen hundreds of photos of the Great Wall, but never one like this. It was unique. Most photos are just shots of the wall stretching into the distance. To see a photo which wasn’t just a photo of the wall, but was a photo of something else which just happened to be on the wall, was truly refreshing.

Likewise, the topic wasn’t something I’d normally associate with the Great Wall. When I think of it, I’m not thinking about customs and superstitions. I’m thinking about the ancient Great Wall of China, the spectacular achievement by the Chinese of long ago (and boy isn’t it something).

I’m wondering how long is the Great Wall of China, how did they build it, why did they build it, how old is it, etc or perhaps just marvelling at the magnificent engineering feat.

The Great Wall of China is really something that’s worthwhile visiting if you get the chance. Just remember to keep an eye out for the padlocks. If you see any, let me know!

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

livepine posted a photo on Flickr of someone sleeping on the chairs at Wuhan Airport:

License

This photo was of particular interest to me, because I’d just finished writing about my experiences at Wuhan Airport and the Wuhan Tianhe Airport Hotel.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time on those chairs myself. I probably only pass through Wuhan Airport once every year or so, but I’ve had a fair bit of bad luck with flights being delayed due to extreme fog, both at Wuhan and our hometown up in the mountains, which is often pretty misty. Delays are common.

Anyway, I can symphasise with the person in the photo. But as I mentioned in my post about my experience at Wuhan Airport, you have to keep an eagle eye on the Departures screen if you want to make sure you don’t miss the flight. I hope the guy in this picture didn’t miss his flight!

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

joelogon posted a photo of himself getting his hair done:

This photo has me a little puzzled. I love it and was going to use it to write about how hair fashion is all the rage amongst young men in China (and it sure is!), but upon looking at it further, it appears that Joe lives in the US. For some reason it comes up when searching for Chinese hair on Flickr. There is no Chinese tag against it, so I have no idea why this happens.

As a result, it doesn’t quite fit into this series, which is only about photos of China. Regardless, I’m going to include it purely because it’s such a great photo! Joe has such wild hair in it! Talk about bad hair day – well technically it’s not a bad hair day, because it’s actually just a hairdresser appointment, but you know what I mean!

Joe, if you ever read this, love the photo, love the wild hair and I’ve got to say that your blog, Dumb Things I Have Done Lately, is also pretty interesting. Best of luck!

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

avlxyz posted a photo of some yummy Chinese cabbage soup:

I don’t normally feature photos of food (they are very popular on Flickr), but this photo of Chinese cabbage soup really reminds me of food that is delicious, healthy and can only be found in China. Iconic Chinese food if you like.

This soup looks to be made of delicious pork chunks and Chinese cabbage (known as Baicai in Chinese) leaves. I can almost taste it! Chinese cabbage appears in many Chinese soups (and noodle soup) and for some reason it works extremely well. It tastes wonderful and is great for your health.

I know of a really good cabbage soup diet – the cabbage soup in the photo is a little different from the diet cabbage soup, but I think that this one of the reasons that most Chinese people are so slim. I’m sure there are plenty of other factors, but diet is probably the single most important factor.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

Stas Kulesh posted a photo of some kids playing ping pong (also known as table tennis) on a makeshift ping pong table:

It’s a great photo, combining many elements. First, it shows a typical Chinese village, with the motor bike utility vehicle in the background, the little sweeping brush leaning against the wall, etc. This is a great setting for this photo.

Next, it shows the inventiveness of Chinese people, because they have literally made a ping pong table using a stone counter (not sure what it’s used for) and adding a stick propped on two bricks as the net. The most remarkable table tennis table I’ve ever seen!

Finally, it’s a great action shot, with the ping pong ball arriving at the other end and the boy moving as a result. However, look closely and you’ll notice something strange – the boy at the far end doesn’t have a ping pong paddle!

Great photo, but those boys really need to go buy some more ping pong paddles.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

sherrattsam posted some fascinating photos of people in a Chinese market:

Great stuff! Sherrattsam has captured some great shots of everyday people in a Chinese marketplace. It’s obviously very cold, as they’re all rugged up against the cold.

The jacket on the man in the last shot is a classic. Lots of lovely flowers, probably better suited to woman’s clothing (at least bt Western standards), but hey, when it’s that cold you’re going to wear whatever’s the warmest!

My favourite shot is the first man. Sherrattsam focuses on the hat (when he titled the shot), but it’s the bandaid that really stands out. There’s obviously an interesting story there!

I guess what really struck me about these photos is that not only do all capture interesting Chinese people, they capture real Chinese people. These look like people you see on the streets of China every day and they’re a big part of what makes China so interesting.

If you’ve ever lived in China or even just had a China vacation, you’ll know what I mean!

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

Stas Kulesh posted a couple of photos of the Shenyang Coin Building, known in Chinese as Fang Yuan Da Sha. The distinctive feature of the building is that it’s shaped like an old Chinese coin (round with a square hole in the middle).

Stas’ first photo shows the building from the side and front:

The second photo appears to be from the back of the building (ie you cannot see the square center of the coin). It’s still a pretty impressive building though:

It’s an amazing building, at once both modern and traditional, a real fusion of Western and Chinese design. Also, I believe that building’s shape has good Feng Shui for attracting money, so it incorporates Chinese beliefs as well.

Shenyang is the capital of Liaoning province, which is situated in north-east China. The Coin Building (also known as the Circle Building) is just south of the North Train Station in Hui Gong Square. According to Synotrip.com, the coin building is home to the Shanghai Bank.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

AndWat posted the following photo of a Chinese Zodiac horoscope wheel:

It’s an interesting zodiac wheel, probably used for some sort of horoscope function. If anyone knows exactly what it does, please let me know.

What I do know is that the Chinese are quite superstitious in general (and that’s obviously a large generalisation). They place a lot of importance on the zodiac and predictions (ie horoscope).

Certain years are good years to have children in, so there’s a boom in children in those years. Likewise with marriages. Conversely, there are bad years as well. I’ve heard of people waiting a year to get married, just because the current year doesn’t produce favourable omens for weddings.

All of this reminds me of an article I read recently on chinese horoscope love compatibility. It’s quite an interesting concept – and more than that, it’s quite a bit of fun too.

Anyway, for the record, the Chinese zodiac is a 12 year cycle, with each year named after one of 12 animals, each with different characteristics. Whichever animal is your zodiac sign is said to have a big influence on your personal traits and also on your fortune. The 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac are:

• Ox: 1949,1961, 1973, 1985
• Tiger: 1950,1962, 1974, 1986
• Rabbit: 1951,1963, 1975, 1987
• Dragon: 1952,1964, 1976, 1988
• Snake: 1953,1965, 1977, 1989
• Horse: 1954,1966, 1978, 1990
• Ram: 1955,1967, 1979, 1991
• Monkey: 1956,1968, 1980, 1992
• Rooster: 1957,1969, 1981, 1993
• Dog: 1958,1970, 1982, 1994
• Pig: 1959,1971, 1983, 1995
• Rat: 1960,1972, 1984, 1996

Interestingly, the cat doesn’t appear in the Chinese Zodiac and legend has it that this is because the rat tricked the cat and took his place.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

Okay, these photos were taken by Robert Scoble, of Scobalizer fame, who was a famous blogger for Microsoft and who now heads up FastCompany.tv. Robert appears to be in China for a couple of weeks to meet entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. He’s also taking some very interesting photos:

First up we have a photo of a fake IPhone. Not a surprise really – fake copies of everything are available in China. The IPhone would be a prime target. With his ex-Microsoft connection, I wonder what Robert thinks of all the fake Microsoft software you can buy for under USD$1?

Next we have a great shot of a child looking at a fountain in Shanghai. There’s something about this shot that I really like.

This is a great shot of the PuDong skyline in Shanghai, which was built on reclaimed land over the last 10 years or so. This is one of the more common shots of China.

Finally, this is a great photo of some red lanterns in Shanghai. Great shot!

I hope Robert enjoys his trip and posts some more photos of China. I also recommend you get over to his blog to read about his trip to China.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.