The People's Republic of Christmas

This column was first published here on December 15, 2010.
Edited versions were subsequently published,with permission of the author,
in print and online editions of community newspapers across Chicago.

I wanted to write a warm and fuzzy Christmas column this week, but I got side tracked.

Let me explain.

The other day I was picking up a prescription at a familiar pharmacy. (Remember when we called them drug stores?) I was in a Christmassy mood, so I took a detour to browse through the “seasonal” section. (Too bad that “Christmas” has become a dirty word to so many retailers.)

I wasn’t looking for anything in particular. More than anything, I was looking for a few touchstones from my youth to give me a smile and make me feel warm inside. (Watching my VHS copy of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” always does that to me.)

I was seeking comfort and the familiarity of an old-fashioned American Christmas, or at least the kind I recall from my youth.

Instead, I found myself in the People’s Republic of Christmas.

Just about every item I looked at, it seemed, had three words in common: Made in China.

Let me say at the outset that I have nothing against the Chinese people. In fact, I have a very dear niece who is ethnically Chinese. And Chicago is the great world-class city it is, in part thanks to the Chinese who live here.

But I do have a problem with (and I hope you do, too) the huge amount of goods that used to be made here that are no longer. That are now made in China and elsewhere. Hey, I’m glad they have jobs----but not if it means Americans lose ours.

Up and down the “seasonal” aisles I browsed. Trinkets made in China. Candy made in China. Wrigley’s chewing gum Christmas tin made in China. Charlie Brown and Snoopy figurines made in China. Even Mickey Mouse.

At this store, you couldn’t even cloak yourself in an American Christmas. The Santa suit in a bag? Made in---you guessed it.

Seems like everyone has bolted the USA. Pepperidge Farm now bakes some of its treats in Indonesia. (Remember their TV commercials in the 1970s in which they boasted about their American goodness, and the on-screen pitchman’s Yankee pronunciation---Pep-ridge Faahhm?)

Same with Royal Dansk cookies. Forget Denmark. Jakarta is where it’s at.

So I recoiled from Chinese Charlie Brown, the Mandarin Mickey Mouse, the Shanghai Snoopy---and I fled to the last bastion of Christmas, the Lord Jesus.

Too late, sad to say. Nativity-themed Christmas cards, trinkets, everything with Jesus, Mary and/or Joseph was made in China.

And given China’s ongoing persecution of Christians (most notably Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants---everything from everyday discrimination to imprisonment and torture), images of Jesus from the People’s Republic of China are a bitter irony.

My head started spinning, so I headed for the ladies room to compose myself. I washed my hands, threw a little water on my face and turned on the automatic dryer. A large label on the dryer said, “Made in China for the Dayton Electric Manufacturing Co., Niles, Illinois.”

That did it. I headed over to the “pain reliever” aisle to buy some aspirin. They’re not made in China. Yet.

Next week, a truly heart-warming Christmas column. I promise. Written in the USA...

Joan Hadac is a Chicago news/feature reporter, editor and columnist.

Read her online at www.citymomchicago.blogspot.com