Dreaming of a Chinese Christmas

What is the first thing that you think of when people mention the word Christmas? Turkey? Presents? Or candy canes? Well, in China, you would see Santa smiling at you through glass windows or fancy decorated Christmas trees with presents piled around them. Although there is no traditional food in China to celebrate Christmas, people cook a giant feast for the celebration. In China, people start putting up Christmas decorations during early December and take them down in January, for the preparation of the Chinese New Year.

Chinese people started celebrating Christmas during the ’90s, so compared to other countries, it is still “recent”. Christmas was originated from the West, but as the celebration spread into China, people added in their own traditions loosely based on the Western original. In China, people give apples as a gift to everyone on the day of Christmas Eve. In Chinese, Christmas Eve is called “píng ān yè” meaning peaceful night or silent night, and in Mandarin the word for ‘apple’ (píng guǒ) has a similar sound to peace. For the sake of the pun, people started giving out apples to wish everyone a safe and peaceful Christmas.

I interviewed several students with a Chinese background about how they celebrate Christmas. Mary Zhang answered, “I would decorate my room with Christmas decorations like hanging Christmas socks beside my windows or on my door”, while Charis Zhang said, “Christmas is a time for Chinese people to buy our wants and needs because shops and online stores would have great discounts during Christmas.” Senior Helen Liao replied, “I would exchange presents with my friends and have a nice dinner with my family.”

Christmas in China seems more like a community celebration, while it remains a spiritual holiday in the West. Probably the celebration of the Chinese New Year is a more suitable reference to spiritual holidays in China.