As you know Thanksgiving is around the corner, and I find myself on http://www.taobao.com (chinese amazon) shopping around only to see Thanksgiving sales banners all over the place. Not even the europeans do that. I had to check my url and make sure I wasn’t on amazon. I have no idea what relations china has with thanksgiving but that is weird as hell. A country 5,000 years old is copying a country that is 300 years old.
I guess the real question, is why?
Is American culture so mainstream and commercialized that people are willing to install our culture and use it to sell products? Is that the power of capitalism? Or maybe its so sad that people don’t see any importance in our holidays (they’re not) and just a means to sell products (which it is). Even the chinese are jumping at the opportunity to make money on these superficial days, they can’t have america’s stock market have its weekend jump all alone, now can they? I find it remarkable that even here, I see halloween, thanksgiving, valetine’s day (there is also a chinese valentine’s type of day which is ancient) , christmas, just about every holiday that isn’t ‘national’ like independence day (for obvious reasons). I’m not exactly sure what to make of it or how to feel about it. I came here with the idea that I left that commercialized superficial bullshit behind, and that I was going to have spring, autumn festivals (which are ancient holidays with a lot of meaning) and the many other interesting chinese holidays which follow ancient folklores, and I do, but to see american capitalism in full force where you can see a starbucks attached to a temple, in such an ancient rich-in-history country like China is a bit disheartening.
Ah well. It is what it is.
Traveling Knox 