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A worker prepares Christmas decorations for public display in the central shopping area of Hong Kong, November 2006. [AFP]

The shops in those malls can be a big attraction in themselves. Many of them hand out small gifts to children accompanying their parents on shopping treks. When I was a kid, I loved collecting balloons from the shops, even though my mother had bought me a whole box of them in many different shapes and colours. I guess we're all a little greedy.

Walking down the many boulevards in Hong Kong over Christmas can be just as exhilarating an experience as going to the malls. I used to love sauntering down Leeyuanshan Road off Causeway Bay before the Lee Garden Hotel on that road was torn down to make way for a giant office complex. It was a broad street with few pedestrians because there was no department store or large shop on it. But the Christmas decorations, put up by the hotel and the owner of several blocks of old office buildings there, were tastefully subdued and delightfully inspiring.

For a more lavish treat, I would recommend Chater Road in the middle of Hong Kong's financial district. The mile-long boulevard, extending from Pedder Street to the old Cricket Club, is usually packed with traffic. But if you go long after office hours at night, you'll be rewarded with the sight of some of the most spectacular outdoor Christmas lighting, not only along the road, but also at the garden outside the Legislative Council building.

When you're tired of walking, you can take a short walk from Chater Road to the Star Ferry pier and take a ferry ride to the other side of the harbour. You don't have to do anything. Just sit back and enjoy the Christmas lights that adorn the tall buildings on the waterfront. You'd be amazed by the bargain you've had for just 25 US cent.

But, of course, it's the people of the city who make Christmas so special year after year. A massive fire broke out in Shek Kip Mei, a squatter area in Hong Kong, on Christmas day in 1953, destroying the homes of more than 50,000 people. Fellow citizens of what was then a backward trading outpost rose to the occasion by donating clothing, blankets, food and money to relieve the fire victims. Many people who donated so generously were not well-off themselves. Indeed, very few people were at that time.

That was a Christmas that helped establish a tradition in Hong Kong.

(China Daily 12/12/2006 page4)

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