Sales, Santas, Apples, Prayer, Police, Beer, Devil Horns, and Balloon Attacks: Some Christmas Sights in Wenzhou, China

Signs of the holiday were easy to spot the day before Christmas in Wenzhou, a city in Zhejiang on China's central east coast. In many ways, they were similar to what I had seen previous years in Wuhan, in Changsha, in Putian, and in Zhangzhou.

For example, in a central commercial district, there were numerous holiday promotions, including one with a "I have a dream!" theme at the Kaitai Department Store.

And several stores I passed had people dressed up as skinny Santas.

But I had never seen as many Santas together as I did at the Wuma Pedestrian Street. A parade of them kept coming . . .

And coming . . .

And coming . . .

And coming . . .

And coming . . .

And coming.

One of the Santas handed me a gift.

As soon as I had the box in my hand I realized it contained a Christmas apple — a tradition in China for Christmas Eve.

The Santas and their Christmas apples were part of a promotion for a dental clinic. I didn't get my teeth whitened, but the apple was good.

Christmas apples were for sale elsewhere, including at the Washi Lane wet market.

The Christmas holiday takes on a special significance in Wenzhou and elsewhere in Zhejiang due to recent forced demolitions of churches or removal of their crosses. I didn't seek out any churches, but I did stumble upon a small one on an alley off of Dasheng Lane.

When I first passed by I noticed two men wearing unmarked uniforms standing nearby. Other people greeting guests encouraged me to come inside. They said photography was fine and pointed out the church's ceiling.

There were approximately 150 people seated inside. I stuck around for a couple of songs.

As I left, I noticed an unhappy-looking policeman talking to the greeters outside. I didn't stick around to listen. When I passed by the area later, the church was still active and a policeman was keeping an eye on things nearby. It was a far different scene from the 30+ police I saw at a larger church in Quanzhou four years ago.

Not far away on Shuomen Old Street, the Hello K.T. bar had special Christmas all-you-can-drink deals.

After not drinking all I could drink, I saw two people who were wearing a type of headgear I had seen a number of others wearing for the holiday.

Yes, those are devil horns. No, I don't know how wearing them became a thing. My guess is their red color simply fits in. And lights. It is worth pointing out that for most people in China Christmas is mostly a chance to have some fun and there is no religious meaning attached.

To top things off that day, I stopped by a food fair at Wenzhou's European City.

A number of the booths were decorated for the holiday.

And a few people there were full of holiday spirit.

Most of the holiday spirit I saw on Christmas day was just more Santas and sales. But at the Wuma Pedestrian Street I saw my favorite Christmas holiday sight this year: two dressed-up children enthusiastically attacking their amused mother (I presume) with weapons made from balloons, a stick, and a giant inflatable pencil. They happily agreed to pose for an action photo.

Maybe this will give rise to a new holiday tradition in China.

Signs of Tainan's Past

Cemetery in Anping District, Tainan, Taiwan

Guarding in Red in Tainan

Today's guardian lion, courtesy of the Anping Kaitai Matsu Temple in Tainan, Taiwan:

Fire, Blood, and Prayer at Taipei's Chang Qing Temple

Despite having "over 210 years of history", the Chang Qing Temple (長慶廟) isn't one of Taipei's most famous temples, but like many small temples in Taiwan it has plenty of spirit nonetheless. As I walked nearby last night some loud sounds compelled me to take a closer look. I believe I caught the end of a special ceremony where statues of gods are taken out of the temple and later returned, often with a great amount of fanfare. Although I didn't witness any massive parades like I recently saw for similar events in Jieyang, last night's ceremony stood out for the bloody wounds a tattooed man inflicted upon himself and the intense music.

Some photos below capture the man who was at the center of the ceremony's conclusion. He received a warm round of applause for his dedicated efforts.

Brother Photo Request: Chinese Jesus

In a desire to mix things up and present myself a challenge, today for the first time ever I told my younger brother "you can pick the photo for today's post". The instructions were vague, but I figured he would understand what I was after.

Of course, he didn't, and after expressing excitement he sent me an image from The Oatmeal. Brothers . . .

I began to regret my offer and pointed out it wasn't a photo. My brother proposed it may have been a photo taken in a cartoon world with a cartoon camera.

This is why we didn't have better things growing up.

He soon made another attempt, though, and asked, "Do you have a picture of a Chinese Jesus?"

I didn't see that coming at all, and it raised several intriguing issues.

As I searched my mind for something relevant I have come across, he added, "I've seen Korean Jesus and Vietnamese Jesus, but I don't think I've seen a Chinese Jesus."

And if I was lacking motive, my brother provided one: "Jesus always brings in the pageviews."

Ok then.

One possible connection was Hong Xiuquan, a leader of the Taiping Rebellion and "self-proclaimed brother of Jesus Christ" — quite a story there. But I have not visited the Hong Xiuquan Memorial in Guangzhou, so I didn't see much potential there.

The best I could come up with was a nativity scene I saw a few months ago at the Zhongshan Road Pedestrian Street in Xiamen. Not only did it include Jesus (unsure of ethnicity but probably not Chinese), it also included something connecting to my brother's earlier cartoon theme — Olaf (snowperson), a character from Disney's animated movie Frozen.

Olaf's sign said "Warm Wishes".

As with my brother's request, I am not going to even try to explain the display. But I will add that it was popular for selfies.

Like a dog in Taiwan, my brother took me in unexpected directions. And in both cases there were religious destinations. What a world.



Update: More context and a bit of an explanation for the display here.

Scenes from Kaihua Isle in Fuzhou's West Lake

Fuzhou's West Lake may not be as famous as Hangzhou's, but according to a sign at the 105-acre park first constructed in 282 AD:

It is ranked 6th among the 36 west lakes all over China and wins its fame for verdant hills, sparkling waters, shady trees, grotesque rockwork and wooden pavilions.

I have been to a number of those similarly named parks and wonder if I have been to the one ranked 36th. Whatever the case, I recently enjoyed a peaceful afternoon walking around the park in Fuzhou, and it wasn't hard to believe it deserved a top 10 ranking. This post includes some scenes from its Kaihua Isle, the location of Kaihua Temple. Tree penjing, sculptures of small monkeys, and a monk all make appearances.

Barking Dogs, Barbecue Buddha, and a Broom Attack

Today while walking down Renmin Road in Changsha, I encountered two dogs who had plenty to say to me.

Perhaps the closer dog had realized at this moment I knew they were mostly just bark. But at least they were standing next to an interesting location — a Chinese barbecue shop.

It opens at 5:00 p.m. and closes around midnight. When closed it displays a painting of what appears to be Buddha holding grilled skewered beef.

Or maybe it is tofu. Whatever the case, the shop's name specifically mentions beef.

As I took photos of the shop and the Buddha painting, something unexpected occurred. A shirtless man approached me and began screaming at . . . I'm not sure who, maybe the dogs, though they weren't doing anything at the time. He was possibly using the local dialect.

I sensed something wasn't quite right as it certainly wasn't normal behavior. Especially compared to what I had seen and dealt with during my earlier 10 years of life in Baltimore, I wasn't worried, but I remained alert. I commented to the man about the painting. His yelling continued unabated.

I then decided to start video recording to capture the moment to see if a local friend could understand the man. But he had stopped yelling by then and started to walk away.

I sensed all was not over.

As the following video shows, I was not wrong, but what occurred was even more unexpected — especially the dramatic "unsheathing".

After the man walked away, one person watching nearby used hand gestures to communicate he thought the man was "crazy". I am somewhat surprised I haven't seen similar examples more often in China. Baltimore was more eventful in this regards.

I have no idea what the man did with the broom handle. It looks like it could have been a great skewer for some large pieces of beef.

Buddha Lends a Hand

This Buddha appears to be ready to lend a hand . . .

. . . or a foot.




I saw the Buddha head at Hengyang's West Lake Park. For a size reference, here is a young girl examining it:

I don't know why the parts were there, nor do I know what became of the rest of Buddha's body, assuming it ever existed. Perhaps a deep message is intended. Perhaps one can be found.

Chongqing Lion

At Arhat Temple (罗汉寺) in Chongqing, China

One Gas Station Under God, Indivisible

After I wrote about a church with a movie theater underneath it in Zhangzhou, China, a reader in the Washington, D.C., area brought my attention to a building with a similar unconventional mix in the U.S. Instead of a movie theater, though, the "Our Lady of Exxon" church has a gas station underneath it.

Photo by mj*laflaca on flickr (original and copyright information)

As The New York Times reported over 20 years ago:

It's a place of worship. It's a gas station. It's Arlington Temple United Methodist Church. Newcomers to Rosslyn, Va., a suburb of Washington, often gawk at the odd structure. But locals breezily refer to it as "Our Lady of Exxon."

The Rev. Jack Sawyer, the church's pastor, doesn't mind at all. "People can call us whatever they want," he says. "We're happy to have them here. We're happy with Exxon too."

A more recent independent report on "this architectural magnificence" indicates the gas station changed from Exxon to Chevron. Whatever the case, according to UMTV, the mix of religion and capitalism was no accident:

This ministry has existed in the middle of the marketplace for more than 30 years. Founder Dr. James Robertson wanted an urban church, but land was expensive. And Dr. Robertson rightly predicted that its value would continue rising.

The Rev. Jean McDonald-Walker: “He said that if we have a gas station underneath the church, the church will never be at a loss for funds. They’ll always have some income, even if there aren’t many members.”

Despite its uniqueness, like the church in Zhangzhou, the church in Rosslyn could be seen as symbolic of broader issues in its country. The environmentally-concerned Christian group who once ran an advertising campaign asking "What would Jesus drive?" to "gas-guzzling Americans" might have some suggestions.

A Church Higher than Movies in "Godless Communist" China

Last month a friend's acquaintance referred to Chinese people as "Godless Communists" in a privately shared comment about Yiwu, "the town in China that makes the world's Christmas decorations". I replied:

It's hard to call China's system these days "communist", whatever the name of the controlling political party. On that note, "The total number of Christians in China is approaching the number of Communist Party members". Yiwu also happens to be in a province with an especially large number of churches, even after a number were recently demolished.

The comment also brought to mind a large church I had recently seen in Zhangzhou, Fujian province.

It is not Zhangzhou's only church and just one of many I have seen across China, including a church in nearby Quanzhou. However, one aspect of this church was rather unusual. A commercial movie theater operated underneath it.

Although some may consider this a great mix of religion and capitalism, the story behind churches and movies theaters in China is complex. While numerous active churches (usually without movie theaters underneath them) openly exist, the Chinese government tightly regulates religion, as suggested by the demolished churches near Yiwu. And while China's many movie theaters (usually without churches above them) care about profits and "a market-based Chinese film industry has started to emerge from the shadows of the older, centralized and state-funded model", the Chinese "government controls which films are made and has a hand in every aspect of the film business, from production to exhibition".

In this sense, the unconventional church & movie theater building in Zhangzhou is symbolic of both how "Godless Communists" isn't often a useful phrase for talking about today's China and how it is challenging to come up with a similarly concise way to accurately describe China other than, of course, as "Chinese".