Christmas lost its soul in the west around the time that I stopped believing in Rudolf, and it’s been a source of angst for those who care about such things for all the decades since. But in China the holiday never had much soul to begin with. That’s what makes it such fun.
大约是在我不再相信世上真的存在红鼻子驯鹿鲁道夫(Rudolf)的时候，圣诞节(Christmas)在西方失去了它的灵魂。自那以来的几十年里，它已成为在意这些事的人的焦虑来源。但在中国，圣诞节从一开始就不涉及多少灵魂方面的内容。正因如此，它才变得如此有趣。
Christmas in China has nothing to do with history, tradition, relatives or regifting. It is, gloriously and unashamedly, about money and fun. Mainlanders celebrate Christmas — and they do celebrate it, even though it’s not a public holiday — by shopping, eating out, maybe doing a bit of karaoke and then more shopping. There’s none of the guilt, stress or family friction of Yuletide in the west (or for that matter, lunar new year in China).
在中国，圣诞节与历史、传统、亲属或礼物转送无关。它堂而皇之且无愧坦然地只关乎金钱和欢乐。中国内地人庆祝圣诞节（他们真的庆祝，尽管它并非公共假日）的方式是购物、外出就餐，可能会唱唱卡拉OK，然后继续购物，丝毫不牵扯西方圣诞节期间（或中国春节期间）往往会涉及的自责、压力或家庭摩擦。
China does have Christians, but it has far more people who celebrate Christmas than believe in it. That disconnect exists globally too. But in China, Christmas without the benefit of Christianity is more of a romantic holiday than a pseudo-religious one.
中国确有基督徒，但中国庆祝圣诞节的人要比信基督教的人多很多。这种脱节在全球都存在。但在中国，不附带基督教精神裨益的圣诞节更多的是一个浪漫的节日，而非伪宗教节日。
Last year on Christmas Day, for example, 250 couples married at the registry office in one district of one southern city alone. In the west, few people choose to marry on that day, to avoid grousing from guests about having to skip the Christmas goose to attend the ceremony (guests don’t attend registry weddings in China anyhow). In China, Cupid and Santa seem to have interbred to give Christ’s birthday a romantic flavour. At Christmas time last year, aspiring blind daters at a matchmaking event in Shanghai were encouraged to tell Santa which of the other participants they fancied most, so that he could help them hook up. Given the low success rate at such events, it might have been better to ask for an iPhone.
例如，去年圣诞节当天，仅在中国南方一座城市的一个区，就有250对新人在婚姻登记处登记结婚。在西方，很少有人选择在圣诞节当天结婚，以免宾客因要出席婚礼仪式不得不错过圣诞鹅而发牢骚（反正中国的宾客不出席登记处婚礼仪式）。在中国，丘比特(Cupid)和圣诞老人(Santa)似乎已合为一体，给耶稣的生日带来浪漫的情调。去年圣诞节期间在上海举行的一场婚介活动中，主办方鼓励踌躇满志的相亲者告诉圣诞老人他们最喜欢哪一位参与者，这样圣诞老人就可以帮助他们牵线搭桥。考虑到这种活动的低成功率，可能当时还不如向圣诞老人讨要一部iPhone。
So why do the Chinese celebrate Christmas if it’s got nothing to do with Christ, mass or virgin mothers (that last matter being particularly unpopular, if not illegal, under the so-called “one-child” policy)?
如果中国的圣诞节与基督、弥撒或处女母亲（最后一类事物在所谓的“一胎化”政策下即使不违法，也是特别不受欢迎的）无关，那么中国人为何还要庆祝这个节日呢？
Adrian Cheng, heir to the Chow Tai Fook jewellery store empire that has been selling baubles to mainlanders for decades, says the past five years have experienced a big boom in giving Christmas presents. “Chinese love festive occasions. If you give them a reason for a festive occasion they will do it, even if they don’t understand the meaning behind it,” he says.
珠宝零售帝国周大福(Chow Tai Fook)的继承人郑志刚(Adrian Cheng)说，过去五年出现了送圣诞礼物的大热潮。他表示：“中国人喜欢节日场合。如果你给他们一个欢庆某个节日的理由，他们就会去庆祝这个节日，即使不明白其背后的意义。”周大福在内地市场销售饰品已有几十年了。
Chinese sociologists say a lot of it has to do with working too hard; Chinese workers are under so much pressure to perform that they seize any excuse to lighten up.
中国的社会学家表示，这种现象在很大程度上与工作太辛苦有关；中国劳动者工作压力非常大，因此他们会抓住一切理由放松自己。
Lucky for them the older generation doesn’t celebrate the holiday at all — so they don’t have to visit them. The twenty-somethings may pick up a fetching set of reindeer antlers to wear on a date, but they leave the rest of the decorating to restaurants and shopping malls. Few bother with trees at home — what a relief that must be — and no one makes their own cranberry sauce.
对他们来说，幸运的是老一辈人从不过这个节，所以不必去看望他们。二十多岁的年轻人或许会在约会时拿出一套引人注目的驯鹿角戴上，但他们会让餐馆和购物中心来负责其余的装饰工作。很少有人劳神在家里布置圣诞树（这肯定让他们省了不少心），而且没人自己做蔓越莓酱。
“In the west we make turkey at home, but when I go to holiday meals in Beijing, the turkey is catered by Kempinski and the log cake is from the Ritz,” says Sara Jane Ho of Institute Sarita, etiquette maven to the nouveau riche.
瑞雅礼仪(Institute Sarita)的何佩嵘(Sara Jane Ho)说，“在西方，我们在家里制作火鸡，但我在北京吃节日大餐时，火鸡是由凯宾斯基(Kempinski)制作的，而树根蛋糕来自丽兹(The Ritz)。”瑞雅礼仪是向暴发户传授礼仪的专业机构。
“In China, there’s no Black Friday,” she says, referring to another “tradition” that didn’t exist when I believed in Rudolf. “But in China, the whole of December is black December” as retailers compete for that Yuletide renminbi.
“中国没有黑色星期五(Black Friday)，”何佩嵘在提及另一项“传统”时说道。这项“传统”在我相信世上存在鲁道夫时可并不存在。“但在中国，整个12月都是黑色的”，其间零售商会彼此展开竞争，争取在圣诞节前后多赚人民币。
Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving — China shopped in the cultural supermarket and decided to import them all. But watch out: the trade in holidays is no longer just one way, says Global Times, the English version of the official People’s Daily. It claims that “Single’s Day”, the $9bn shopping holiday popularised overseas by Alibaba and known in China as “Double 11” (as it occurs on November 11), may be China’s first exportable modern holiday.
圣诞节、万圣节(Halloween)、情人节(Valentine's Day)、感恩节(Thanksgiving)——中国置身于文化超级市场，决定全部引进。但要注意：官方喉舌《人民日报》(People’s Daily)旗下刊物、《环球时报》(Global Times)英文版称，节日贸易不再是单向的。该报称，由阿里巴巴(Alibaba)推广到海外的、销售规模达90亿美元的购物节日“光棍节”（由于发生在11月11日，在中国也被称为“双11”），可能是中国首个可出口的现代节日。
“The Double 11, a festival created by Chinese people, is now shoulder to shoulder with western festivals like Christmas or Valentine’s Day, and perhaps even overpowers them,” the paper crowed, adding that its “strong emotional appeal has started to infiltrate foreign countries” and could become “the first symbol of China’s ‘soft power’”.
该报得意地称：“中国人创造的节日‘双11’现已可以比肩西方的节日如圣诞节或情人节，甚至可能盖过了它们。”该报还称，这个节日“强大的情绪感染力已开始渗透到国外”，而且有可能成为“中国‘软实力’的首个标志”。
That’s one way to fill the spiritual void, I guess: pack it full of Taobao packages. Probably works as well as filling it with Christmas trees.
我觉得，这是一种填补精神空虚的方式，即用淘宝(Taobao)包裹来把它塞满。这很可能与用圣诞树来填满它一样管用。