Christmas 2013

As we near the end of another year, it's truly cold and its truly Christmas in a Chinese way. A lot of people seem to be taking a few days off (maybe foreign companies are giving them some time off, as officially the only public holiday is Jan 1st) and of course much of the Western world has stopped, so things are a bit slower. There are major attempts to plant Christmas trees everywhere in office buildings and shopping malls, as well as Christmas lights on any trees outside such buildings. There's occasionally some Christmas music played too, though its usually not too loud. Certainly there is an abundance of emails with various Christmas and New Year greetings (and bear in mind the Chinese New Year is not till Jan 30th, so there may be a second round of email cards then!)

The Lane family here is not really into Christmas but that might change as the little Lane gets older. She does seem to like opening things. She was a bit confused about a fake wooden present that we have next to our little Christmas tree that we got given for free a year or so ago in a shop. She tried to open the present, but it's a solid wooden block.

As I look back on the year, as ever China has continued to change: the new leadership, new policies (some are potentially significant affecting migration for example), new trade reforms, increased tension with other Asian countries over various neighboring islands, massively increased domestic awareness on air pollution (and some political response to improve it) amongst other things.

My work has been fairly stable with a variety of different projects related to China and some not related to China as well as some successful events in Beijing and Shanghai where I've made a more intentional effort this year. Other aspects of BSR's work definitely picked up towards the end of the year and next year should be more interesting. Andrea's certainly been the busier of the two of us, getting money, hiring staff and organizing activities around the country. Life should be interesting for her too next year.

Some things have stayed the same: same apartment, same social activities, same regular trips back to Europe every 6 months, and same occasional holidays elsewhere. Same level of Chinese and same awfully poor German.

Now its almost time to head into 2014, a few more weeks of work, a birthday for someone, and then back home. I'm already looking forward to the Hong Kong trip at the end of February for some warmth and time on the islands.

Merry Christmas everyone.