The people who create Christmas

Shanghai holiday helper: Xue Ling, Christmas card maker

Well before the Christmas carols start playing, Xue Ling is busy making holiday cards in a paper factory in Shanghai’s grey outskirts. “They are so lovely,” she says, “especially the ones with the trees and the snowmen.”

After the cards and envelopes are printed and packaged, Xue Ling ties a red ribbon around the stack “to make it even more beautiful.” She demonstrates, deftly weaving a strand of ribbon into a perfectly-shaped bow. Her fingers are so used to the movement that she can easily tie 1,000 ribbons a day. As she sits on a stool in a cold room surrounded by several dozen coworkers, Xue Ling says she wonders about the people who will open her cards.

“I feel very proud of our work,” she says. One day, she plans to return to her hometown of Anhui to start her own specialty paper shop.

Shanghai holiday helper: Zhou Jie, Christmas tree seller

When Zhou Jie first started selling Christmas trees about 10 years ago, her customers came all from abroad. Today, young Chinese are increasingly celebrating the holiday with a live tree.

Each year, Zhou Jie sells about 100 trees from her small shop Chu Fang Gardens on Shanxi Nan Lu, the site of the former Jingwen flower market.

“This space here is so small, but we have so much to offer,” she laments. She’s got snow pines and spruces, but the best trees are the Japanese Cedars from China’s northeast. “You can hang ornaments on the strong, rough branches and they won’t fall,” Zhou Jie explains. Prices start at RMB 100 and go up to RMB 600, depending on variety and size, some of which stretch more than three meters tall. Zhou Jie is planning ahead for what she anticipates as a budding Christmas tree market in China. She’s even started growing her own on a 20-acre plot of land in Pudong.

Shanghai holiday helper: Father Joseph Lu, St. Francis Xavier priest

This 150-year-old church near the Shanghai docks will soon be covered in red poinsettias and hand-painted angel decorations in celebration of the Christmas season. At an evening mass on Christmas Eve, a processional will carry the infant Jesus and place him in the manger.

“Each Christmas season gives me a sense of joy,” says Father Lu, a local who comes from a family of Chinese Catholics. “Each time we sing Christmas songs, there’s a spirit of love.”

The church uses English as a common language for an international community that includes worshipers from South America and Africa. Father asks readers to speak slowly so that it’s easy to follow along. “There’s no dominant culture so everyone can fit in,” he explains. Father Lu will say a mass on Christmas Eve and two on Christmas Day. Hundreds are expected to come.

“It’s energy consuming to prepare, but I like it,” he says. “Afterwards, I feel renewed.”

Shanghai holiday helper: Hamish Pollitt, executive chef of M on the Bund

Christmas can be quiet and bleak in Shanghai, something chef Hamish Pollitt tackles head on. Inside his restaurant M on the Bund, Pollitt creates a homey holiday environment, from carols in the kitchen to a gingerbread house on display. He even uses his grandmother’s secret ham glaze recipe.

In a city with so many distinct traditions, Pollitt adds a bit of everything. For his fellow Australians, he’ll serve up summery prawn cocktails and oysters. For the Europeans and Americans, there will be roasted goose and turkey. There are even Chinese touches such as a chestnut soup inspired by the local street vendors. This year, the chef is especially excited about a Scandinavian bread and fish dish.

Pollitt says he enjoys working Christmas Day, adding with a laugh, “It solves family politics.” And trying to create Christmas in Shanghai always involves a few amusing cultural mishaps. “One year, someone on staff managed to get a Christmas rabbit and stuck it onto the gingerbread house,” he says. “It was a great China moment!”