Delicious, festive holiday choices abound for expats

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Foreigners in China for Christmas won't need to miss out on their favorite holiday foods and traditions.

Chefs at a slew of restaurants and hotels were spending Christmas Eve roasting turkeys, smashing pumpkins and stirring cranberry sauce to make the night delicious as well as merry and bright.

"This is our eighth Christmas Eve dinner," said Jim Spear, proprietor of a restaurant in Mutianyu in the Beijing suburbs. Spear and his three partners have made the restaurant at their compound a home away from home for expats hungry for traditional holiday meals served family-style.

"We have live jazz," he said, "and after dinner we sing Christmas carols led by my daughter Emily," he said.

On Christmas Eve, revelers in Hong Kong could choose from hotel holiday buffets watching Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker or at a jazzy fashion show at the city's highest-floor club, Ozone.

Shenzhen's OCT Harbor Breeze Beach hosted a dance carnival on the sand, with a fluffy pillow fight and a catwalk show by robots dressed as Hollywood characters.

For many expats, however, the day's focal point is the birth of Jesus Christ.

"Attending Mass in Beijing on Christmas Day is a wondrous gift from God," said Peter Thong, a Malaysian who has been in China for 25 years.

"Christmas is a time for reflection and reinforcement of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ," he said just before attending Mass last night at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing.

Being with family is important on Christmas Eve, too, though it's often not possible for foreigners in China.

"Skype is my best friend tonight," said US expat Sam Clemens in Shanghai. "My folks start making cornbread dressing at noon on Christmas Eve, and they exchange gifts after dinner before they go to midnight Mass. This year I am right there with them, thanks to the magic of the Internet."

Questions:

1. Jim Spear is the proprietor of a restaurant. Where is it?

2. What event do religious Christians celebrate on Christmas?

3. Shenzhen's OCT Harbor Breeze Beach hosted a dance carnival on the sand. What other activities did they offer?

Answers:

1. Mutianyu.

2. The birth of Jesus Christ.

3. A fluffy pillow fight and a catwalk show by robots dressed as Hollywood characters.

About the broadcaster:

Anne Ruisi is an editor at China Daily online with more than 30 years of experience as a newspaper editor and reporter. She has worked at newspapers in the U.S., including The Birmingham News in Alabama and City Newspaper of Rochester, N.Y.