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Friday photo: Christmas trees that confirm national stereotypes

An Emirati man walks past an 11-million-dollar Christmas tree at the Emirates Palace hotel in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi on December 15, 2010. Christmas came in extravagant fashion to the Muslim desert emirate of Abu Dhabi as a glitzy hotel unveiled a bejewelled Christmas tree valued at more than 11 million dollars. A pedestrian ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images

An Emirati man walks past an 11-million-dollar Christmas tree at the Emirates Palace hotel in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi on December 15, 2010. Christmas came in extravagant fashion to the Muslim desert emirate of Abu Dhabi as a glitzy hotel unveiled a bejewelled Christmas tree valued at more than 11 million dollars.

An Emirati man walks past an 11-million-dollar Christmas tree at the Emirates Palace hotel in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi on December 15, 2010. Christmas came in extravagant fashion to the Muslim desert emirate of Abu Dhabi as a glitzy hotel unveiled a bejewelled Christmas tree valued at more than 11 million dollars.

A pedestrian walks past a neon-lit Christmas tree at twilight in Beijing on December 6, 2010. Though not celebrated for religious reasons in China, the world’s largest producer of Christmas goods, including artificial Christmas trees, toys and decorations, the commerical appeal and visual decorations of the festive season are ever increasing across China.

Hmmm…looks like a giant, high-tech, red cage.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

Tag: Media

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