One great thing about Shanghai is that there is no January post-Christmas letdown. Every year since I arrived in 2004, noticeably more Christmas decorations are going up in December. And, as I found last Sunday when I braved the grim, gray weather to do a little shopping, they are still up.
Like the gold tree on Nanjing Lu in front of Plaza 66.
Out at the pearl market in Hongqiao, a jolly little Santa is still hanging out under a big tree, although the poinsettias aren’t trying hard any more.
At Marks & Spencer, the plum pudding hasn’t even been discounted.
What’s the thinking? I dunno. Certainly it’s not “out with the old; in with the new.” I suspect it has to do with the fact that the lunar new year lies just around the corner. Hyper-optimistically (and confusingly), that holiday is called “spring festival” as well as “new year” here, although it falls smack dab during winter. Why feel blue when we can just keep on making merry until spring arrives?