By John Cairns
NEAR VICTORIA HARBOR, Hong Kong – Despite the usual absence of snow, it looks a lot like Christmas near Hong Kong's famous harbor. Holiday decorations appear almost everywhere, ranging from giant messages illuminating the sides of skyscrapers to small items in store windows.
During two decades in Hong Kong, I've experienced cool weather, but never a “white” Christmas, and this year stays consistent. Most people here couldn't imagine a winter-wonderland with Victoria Harbor frozen over so they could stroll or skate between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.
Yet Christmas sights abound, especially in shopping districts where tall trees and other seasonal displays reach for the sky among towering buildings. The elaborate decorations in many public places inspire people to stop and pose for holiday photos. On Hong Kong Island, I noticed a bride carefully posed amid the holiday adornments by her official photographer. Across the harbor in Kowloon, one huge holiday display does double duty, its Toy Story theme also celebrating a new attraction, Toy Story Land at Hong Kong Disneyland. It even has a huge, friendly looking pig wearing a Santa hat.
Inside the shopping malls, where Christmas music has played since early November, some folks look perplexed and others desperate when trying to finish their holiday buying. In the shop-windows, signs and more decorations vie for their attention.
Not everyone fully understands this holiday. Based on the displays, some people believe that Santa Claus, as “Father Christmas”, surely sired the baby sometimes mentioned, but seldom seen, in the seasonal displays.
Meanwhile, at the water's edge more construction work of dubious merit proceeds on reclaimed land. Overhead, persistent smog clings, obscuring the greenery of distant hills. So as folks celebrate the holidays, their lungs continue to deteriorate from breathing the polluted air, a Christmas gift to last all year from their home city.
To everyone, merry Christmas -- and happy 2012.
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