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On December 24, the Holy Trinity Church in Shanghai will hold its first Christmas Eve service in some time. The second restoration of the 1869 building, one of the oldest of its kind in China and unused for decades, was completed in 2019. The ceiling, in keeping with its Anglican history, still displays in intricate detail the four flowers of the UK’s nations.
In the war-torn Puritan England of 1644, Christmas was officially banned. In the China of 2022, it was not so much banned as forgotten about. After three years of pandemic controls, Covid-19 finally swept across the country. Along its empty streets, Shanghai’s celebrated international spirit, let alone a Christmas one, was difficult to detect.
A year later, Christmas has returned, and with interest. Across the city, inflatable Santas have been fixed to buildings, mid-climb. Christmas trees and other decorations abound. In some residential buildings, carols are sung in the lobby. The ChristKindlMarkt, a German market close to the historic Bund, featuring nutcrackers, a carousel and an Audi, has been extended for another week due to popular demand.
As with earlier Christmases, the most obvious driving force here is consumption — one of several concerns across an economy that has not fully bounced back. At the many other Christmas markets that have popped up, festive goods are on offer, from crepes to eggnog. Starbucks, extending a long list of flavoured drinks unique to a Chinese market upon which it relies heavily for growth, has added its “Apple Pie-ty” options. A small booth by the Hennessy Christmas tree, which is more of a Christmas bottle, offers discounted coffee if visitors upload a photo to social media.
After a difficult year for international business, in which reality has failed to meet the high expectations set in the early stages of the reopening, the Christmas spirit has become a gauge of sentiment. “When I see these decorations, and no one’s asking for them to come down, for me that’s a positive sign,” said one businessman.
A gauge of such subtlety reflects another lingering quality of the Covid era: uncertainty over the government’s approach. To what extent are the decorations officially ordained rather than a spontaneous phenomenon? As with much in China, the discussion is limited to speculation. At a recent party, one longtime resident of the city noted the lack of adornment at a state-owned location on Nanjing Road, implying a lack of willingness at the official level to spend or decorate. At the site in question, there were in fact a few Christmas trees, even if they were difficult to spot.
One thing that is clear, at least, is that local governments have for most of the year been lobbying heavily for foreign investment, which has fallen significantly. Tensions with the US also worsened at the start of 2023, though recent high-level meetings have raised hopes of a thaw. Within the country itself, there is a sense of longer-term tension over whether China should be closed or open to the world.
In Shanghai, Advent has been uncluttered by political dynamics, unlike the pagan festival of Halloween. At the end of October, many thousands of young people, sometimes in ambiguously political costumes — hazmat suits, for instance — prompted a comparably large police presence. This was also ambiguous: was it related to crowd control or satire control?
Meanwhile, there are signs of some of the more trademark international elements of Shanghai returning. In a dive bar — once common but now rare — a Manchester DJ rounded off his set with The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York”. At busy intersections, exasperated foreign tourists can be spotted trying to flag down taxis, unaware that this has in the space of a few years become impossible in China; they can now only be ordered on apps.
As for Holy Trinity Church, the restoration has remained notably true to its 1865 design. Its gothic arches bring to mind the Victorian architecture of the St Pancras hotel in London: it was built by the same architect, George Gilbert Scott. But the features are not entirely unaltered. In the stained glass windows, just behind Noah and a dove, there is, this time, a panda.