Because most expats' families are overseas, foreigners in China often create a "family" from their friend bases to celebrate Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving is a time for food, fun and family. But for American expats in China - and their friends of other nationalities - Turkey Day becomes a bird of a different feather.

"In the States the air is full of the cheer and happiness of getting together with family. There is shopping to be done for all the food to make Thanksgiving a special meal. lots of fun in the preparation of the food and the anticipation of having family all around you," says American Myszka Reeck, who lives in Shanghai.

"Here, most of us do not have our extended family with us, so those of us who are here at this time band together to create our own family for the holiday."

For her first Thanksgiving in China three years ago, Reeck invited 28 friends-cum-family from all over the globe to her home for a holiday feast. Like many American expats who spend this national holiday with an international crowd, she found the dinner was heavily seasoned with cultural variety - the spice of life for the global citizen.

"The Australians had never had true American pumpkin pie and always wondered why we liked it so much in the States - turns out, we use a different type of pumpkin in the States," Reeck says.

The Canadians talked about what they do when they celebrate their earlier Thanksgiving. One of their friends from Malaysia baked a pie for the first time in her life. Another friend from another country marveled at the baking of the turkey and how hard it must be to make it come out just right.

Pumpkin pie is a traditional Thanksgiving treat.

This year, the former teacher and her husband are taking the Thanksgiving holiday as an opportunity to meet friends and bask in the sun in the tropical city of Sanya, South China's Hainan Province.

But William Johnson, of New Mexico, will spend this Thanksgiving in Beijing with a large international crowd of Europeans, South Americans, Mexicans, Chinese and Canadians to see what it is like talking turkey across languages and cultures.

The 34-year-old Chinese historian and English instructor says he appreciates the "variety" of the guest list, and is also thankful for "my health and good relationships with my family and friends, as well as the good job opportunities here".

Katina Wong, of Fremont, California, has planned two Thanksgiving Day celebrations. The first, which takes place tomorrow, is an at-home dinner with international students, while Saturday's feast will be a potluck attended by a mostly American crowd.

"It really depends on whom you spend it with," Wong says. "To spend it with someone with the same beliefs and backgrounds as you and to spend it with someone from other countries or locals could be different."

But the 22-year-old says that she looks forward to what both dinners offer - a taste of home with compatriots and the opportunity to see what other nationalities might bring to the table.

"(The Americans) will probably know what a Thanksgiving dinner should look like. They'll know that the cranberries go with the turkey and what goes with the gravy, whereas the international students might ask: 'What's this? How do we eat this?'"

But no matter whom she spends her holiday with, Wong says it's the people in her life that she's grateful for this year.

"It sounds very clichd, but I'm thankful for my family, who supports me being in China, and also, I've been having a hard time lately, but my friends here have been supporting me. So, I'm thankful for the people in my life," she says.

And tomorrow, a number of Beijing residents will spend their Thanksgiving talking turkey with world-renowned primatologist and environmentalist Jane Goodall at the JW Marriott. The event is the last stop of Goodall's China visit, during which the British woman has been promoting her Roots & Shoots program in China.

"I'm thankful that the Roots & Shoots groups around China are doing so much to make this place a better world," Goodall tells China Daily. "I'm thankful that it gives me a chance to spend Thanksgiving with some of my wonderful friends in China."

American Sarah Hutchinson, business student at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, is also thankful for "all of the old friends I have and all of the new ones I've made this year".

Two of her buddies from the United States flew to China to join her and her roommates for a Thanksgiving feast at her home.

"For me, being here during Thanksgiving, it's great to have friends come," says the 30-year-old from Gainesville, Florida.

In addition to this smaller, more intimate dinner at home, Hutchinson also planned to host a larger celebration for her international student friends. "For them, it's an exposure to our holiday, and for us, it's an opportunity to share that with them," she says.

"I love Thanksgiving; I've been planning it and looking forward to it for months. It's kind of a uniquely American tradition; that's the thing I like about it, particularly in this international context."

Beijing American Club member relationship manager Amanda Lang, who helped organize the club's "Thanksgiving Big Dinner" this year, points out that the celebration which originally came from the United States is growing in popularity internationally.

"Thanksgiving is a kind of American traditional festival, but it seems more people from different countries are starting to celebrate this special and meaningful day," Lang says. "I bet it's because more and more people realize how important it is to pass their thanks on to whom they should."

Australian Penny Wallace spends the day helping some American friends organize the Thanksgiving dinner they host every year at the International Hotel in Chongqing. She says that last year's dinner was attended by more than 100 expats from all corners of the globe -evidence of the celebration's growing international appeal.

As an Australian, she also taps into the spirit of the holiday.

"Australia, until recently, did not formerly celebrate Thanksgiving, but we do now," she says. "Our formal Day of Thanksgiving is May 14, which was the date, more than 400 years ago, when a Portuguese explorer stood on our shore and declared that Australia was 'The Great South Land of God's Holy Spirit' - something we should surely celebrate."

Wallace also says that, like Americans, she has found celebrating the holiday away from home and family in China is very different.

"Besides the opportunity for a good turkey dinner, it is another opportunity for many of us to make new friends and catch up with those we rarely see in this big busy city of ours," she says.

(China Daily November 22, 2007)