I went Christmas shopping in Beijing yesterday. Top of my list were candles, matches, a torch, batteries, a portable heater, tinned foods and bottled water. Laden down with these, I went to a cash dispenser and withdrew bank notes, something which I shall repeat every day from now until December 31st.
I'm stockpiling in a modest way as a precaution against any breakdown of facilities in China due to the Y2K bug on January 1st.
Beijing admits it is not fully prepared for Y2K, and that there will be some year-end computer failures. Office towers might shut down, surgical equipment could fail, light and heat may be lost in some areas, and cash machines might refuse to function.
Most foreigners have left China to spend the millennium weekend in their home countries. The US embassy has paid the fare for all families wishing to leave during this period.
Those still here include journalists and company executives. CNN staff, for example, have been banned from taking leave over the Millennium and most managers of foreign and joint enterprises have likewise been ordered to stay at their posts just in case.
No one is panicking by any means, but expatriates are taking the advice of their embassies on what precautions to adopt. The Irish Ambassador, Mr Declan Connolly, has written to Irish citizens advising them to make sure they have adequate supplies of drinking water and food (tinned and preserved), torches (with batteries), candles, an alternative heating source, a full petrol tank and enough cash to meet requirements for an extended period.
Certainly there is no panic buying in the stores, which are decorated with tinsel and Christmas greetings in English. Indeed, not much buying of any kind goes on in these deflationary days. Christmas is not a holiday in China, although capitalist-minded Beijing has succumbed to the global phenomenon of Christmas commercialism to boost sales.
Big stores have started playing tapes of Christmas carols and putting up fir trees decorated with fairy lights.
The Protestant and Catholic churches in the Chinese capital - and the underground "house" churches - are preparing for capacity Christmas services, as the trend has been for bigger congregations every year.
Otherwise it will be a normal weekend here and, as usual, dry and cold, without even a flake of snow, according to the weather forecast, to make it a white Christmas.
At least one Chinese street worker is happy that Beijing has been affected by the spirit of multicultural Christmas. The man who hands out coupons for a restaurant in Beijing's Wangfujing shopping area was this week given a Santa Claus outfit to put on to try to attract more customers.
"I don't mind," he said. "At least it's warm."
AFP adds: Tens of thousands of victims from severe summer flooding along the Yangtze River in China will have to spend the winter in tents or old abandoned buildings, Red Cross officials said yesterday.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the victims were too poor to rebuild after sustained rainfall caused extensive flooding along China's longest river, destroying their homes.