If you are in Shanghai during the Christmas season the outright commercialization of this Western holiday is hard to miss. Even in outside large coastal cities like Shanghai the holiday is still used relentlessly by companies in their marketing. Yet Christmas is almost never celebrated in the traditional European sense here in China, so why do companies and the Chinese people even care about it? The Chinese people don’t skip over Christmas, they just celebrate it differently.

This is my first Christmas season in Shanghai, but last year I was a high school English teacher in the city of Huaihua (怀化) in far western Hunan province. This so-called “third tier” city had much of the same commercialization you find in the large coastal cities like Shanghai, but the population was largely Han Chinese and there were basically no foreigners. The only people who did anything to celebrate the holiday were students and young professionals.

For a holiday in China to become a family affair the government generally needs to designate the holiday as a national vacation, since families are often spread out far and wide in this country. Christmas has no such designation. The Chinese people are stuck at school or work for the holiday, making its celebration informal and largely among friends, classmates and coworkers.

At the high school I worked at in Huaihua most of the students boarded at the school and their families lived far away in the outlying towns and villages. For my students, who were all first year high school students and all around 15 years old, this meant that they were in class on Christmas. A Chinese high school is by nature a never-ending academic boot camp, so any excuse to celebrate with friends and escape the strict daily routine of lectures and night study is enthusiastically embraced.

Since Christmas is not a traditional Chinese holiday and has no official mandate from the government to be celebrated Chinese students can literally make it into whatever they want, as long as they get to class on time. Some of my classes took the time to decorate their classrooms with Christmas decorations (the local market was full of Christmas knick-knacks manufactured in China) and write Christmas greetings on the blackboard. Almost all the students sent their friends (and foreign teacher) Christmas text messages, often written in English, which largely praised friendship or wished the receiver a happy holiday. Some students bought their friends small gifts and many ate dinner outside with friends rather than in the school cafeteria. Those lucky few students that had a boyfriend or girlfriend would do something special for the other person, whether it was a stuffed animal, movie ticket or dinner out.

One of the things about Christmas in China is that it is seen as a learning experience. Every middle school student in China studies English and celebrating Christmas is considered an extension of that study. My fellow high school English teachers told me to teach the students about the holiday, it is considered something that a student should know about to fully understand the English language. I was always being asked by the school and my students to not only teach English but also American culture.

In the same vein, I actually hosted an English competition on Christmas Eve in a rural city near Huaihua called Zhijiang (芷江) in, of all places, a Catholic church. In between the two Christmas Eve masses a local private English school for young students had rented out the church for an English language pageant. The show was a bizarre mix of children in costumes dancing, English songs, and trivia questions asked by me. The parents eagerly photographed their children performing songs and skits, which often had no connection to Christmas but all involved English in some way or another. The pervading sense was that having a Christmas pageant was a great way to understand western culture, a necessary step for success in learning English and, therefore, success in life.

From what I’ve seen, Chinese teenagers and young professionals use the holiday as an excuse to hang out with friends. An informal survey in my Shanghai office shows that dinner, seeing a movie, or going to KTV with friends are the most popular activities on Christmas, and whether one lives in a metropolis like Shanghai or a growing city like Huaihua this line of thinking seems to hold true. Seeing all those kids dancing to American songs last Christmas Eve I can’t help but think as younger Chinese grow older this holiday is going to become more important, though never in ways that foreigners like me will fully understand.

The text messages came fast and furious on a chilly December day three years ago.

“Merry Christmas Zach”
“Wish you a happy Christmas!”
“Christmas cheer to you! Hope you hoppy (sic) every day!”

The funny thing, aside from the spelling error suggesting that I’m somehow rabbit-like, was that I received these Christmas greetings from my Chinese friends and colleagues in spite of the fact that I had told them all that I’m Jewish and don’t celebrate Christmas. It just didn’t seem to compute. I’m foreign. I’m white. I’m an American. Therefore, I must celebrate Christmas!

When I moved to Hunan Province in south central China more than three years ago, the last thing I expected to find in December was a landscape awash in Christmas tidings. Yet, there it was. Sometime in early November, the decorations first started to appear — Paper Santas plastered on storefronts; Christmas trees standing guard at mall entrances; Merry Christmas banners in both Chinese and English.

Most of the decorations were poor quality and didn’t seem designed to last more than a few weeks. The color palette was bright and garish, and it wasn’t limited to the usual American blend of deep reds and dark greens. Instead, Santas greeted me with glowing pink eyes, and banners were just as likely to include gold and silver as they were to focus on crimson and clover. Still, one couldn’t deny the joyfulness in the air.

By the time Christmas day arrived, virtually every single storefront in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, was covered in Christmas decorations. In fact, the Christmas cheer was so ubiquitous that stores without decorations seemed startlingly out of place. By the time December 25th arrived, I came to a shocking realization – there were more stores decked-out for Christmas in Changsha than I had ever seen in an American city.

Interestingly though, the festive hijinks appeared to stop cold at the retail level. None of my Chinese friends decorated their houses for Christmas, and, to this day, I’ve never seen a family here put up lights or a tree in their house to celebrate.

Yet, the store-side decorations left me puzzled. Do the Chinese actually celebrate Christmas? Was there a stealthy undercurrent of Christianity running through China that I had never noticed?

For clarity on the matter, I decided to ask some of my classes at the middle school in which I volunteered at the time. Most of my students had a low English ability, so I phrased my questions carefully. First, I put a big picture of Santa Claus on the board. “Who is this?’ I asked. Nothing. A room full of blank stares. The students were all familiar with the image, but none of them had a clue who this man was. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, a student tentatively raised her hand. “He is the old foreign Christmas man,” she said. Close enough, I thought.

Next question – “What is the purpose of Christmas?” I asked. More silence, and this time, an answer never came. Despite their hometown being awash in Christmas decorations, the students had no idea what the point of the holiday was. To them, it was just a colorful foreign festival that gave them an excuse to go shopping, find good sales and have fun.

For the youth of China, it appears that while Christmas imagery and decorations abound, the holiday has only been imported on a surface level – shopping, gifts and cheer, without any deeper meaning. Americans love to lament the fact that Christmas has become over-commercialized. But, in China meanwhile, the holiday exists on a purely superficial level for many youth.

Which left me wondering… With the increasing importance of China on the world stage, how long is it before storefronts in western nations start to blindly put up decorations for Chinese holidays? I can see it now…

Next week at Walmart: Save 5 percent on all home appliances to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival!

Thus a poll found here, seeks to find a better Chinese match for Santa Clause. And no, it’s not a “Bag or Watch” salesperson on the street corner wearing a Santa Hat…

After 679 people voted, the people have spoken. China’s “God of Wealth” (财神) captured 225 votes to replace Santa. The “Three Gods of Good Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity” (福禄寿三星) and the “God of Matchmaking” (月老) round out the top 3.

What about Christmas’ magical Snowman? Well Chinese netizens have replaced him with a cuddly, lovable Panda!

Other ridiculous options include an apple, gloves, stockings, Doraemon, a Sun Bird, a Penguin, and our favorite, Hello Kitty.

What would you choose to replace Santa Clause or the Snowman? Let us know!

“China is the main producer of Christmas ornaments in the world, occupying 40% of European market and 70% of American market. In the whole world, more than half of the Christmas ornaments are originally from Yiwu. The Yiwu Entry-exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau has been tabulating the massive sales growth. As statics show, during May to November this year, the bureau has inspected 1336 batches of Christmas ornaments, which value 29.16 million yuan. These two statics have respectively increased by 11% and 22.2%. In spite of the influence of the financial crisis in the Western world, the output has still increased by more than 50%. It owes to the enterprises’ exploration to other emerging markets including Africa, South America and South-east Asia.”

(source: panews.cn)

As is known to all, Christmas is a traditional festival in the western world, just as traditional as the Spring Festival in China. Both westerners and Chinese value have much to value regarding their respective traditional festivals, usually gathering with family and joining in some traditional or religious activities. However, Chinese youth do not have to enter the church for the Midnight Mass as their Western counterparts do on Christmas. Instead, Chinese youth consider Christmas as an excuse for reveling with contemporaries, going shopping, partying at KTV, attending concerts (one of 10 options this year) or movies.

However, some Chinese specialists and scholars worry about Chinese youth partaking and believing too much in foreign festivals. 10 doctors in philosophy and education from some of China’s most famous universities, including Beijing University and Qinghua University recently released a proposal together to appeal Chinese youth to celebrate Christmas cautiously. They want to prevent traditional Chinese culture from being invaded by western culture.

In my opinion, these doctors are overanxious. Chinese youth are patriotic enough to stand on their own ground rather than “turn our society into one that is dominated by western culture”. Chinese youth keen on Christmas merely enjoy the local shops’ increased marketing strength, especially those products and service targeted at young customers. Thus, Chinese youths’ passion on Christmas becomes undoubtedly logical. What other time of year would you have so many movie and concert options? Personal electronic brands like Samsung, Sony, Asus and NEC all plan to promote their products by attractive discounts during the Christmas period. These are both examples of Christmas benefits in China.

On the other hand, both shops and young consumers should pay more attention to traditional Chinese festivals because there are also many business opportunities hidden behind these festivals. For example, the traditional Chinese food, moon cake, which is popular in Mid-autumn Day, is filled with ice-cream these years by local Chinese brands Yuan Zu and even international brands like Haggen-Daz and Starbucks. This is obviously an admirable attempt to directly appeal to Chinese youth. Chinese youth welcome this kind of innovative products, and at the same time, they are reminded of the traditional Chinese festivals.

In my memory, Christmas is unforgettable when I was in elementary school. In the ages before technology we prayed for each other and sent Christmas cards with bad handwriting. It was also nice looking forward to Santa Claus, although he’s just a fairy tale.

And I later I found out that Christmas is the birthday of Jesus. I sigh thinking how the Western world pours their heart into the celebration of Jesus and many Chinese people started following this tradition as well. I congratulate them for believing in “something.”

Maybe some Chinese youth know what Santa Claus is riding: an elk or a spotted dear.
Maybe some Chinese youth know why people draw crosses on their chests when praying.
Maybe some Chinese youth know how to spell “Christmas” when texting messages to others using “Merry X’mas”.

But, so what, I just want to celebrate Christmas.

You can see very exaggerated scenes on Shanghai streets during Christmas. There are no gifts hanging on the Christmas tree, only logos of Lancome, Seiko and Evian. How romantic it is.

Some Santa’s are dressed shabbily giving gifts on the street with a bag on their back. Their gifts are fliers for “味千拉面” or “巴贝拉餐厅 inviting me to eat at their restaurants. Other restaurants indicate that they provide “Christmas Dinner for Couples” on their blackboard signs. The price is 3 times higher than normal, the food is still terrible, and the restaurants are still crowded. Restaurants are booked one month in advance.

If you want to take your girlfriend out to dinner on Christmas Eve, be forewarned. All the pubs are crowded. Chinese youth spend waste no time spending their money and their time. Places like Xintiandi and Tianzifang, claiming to be quaint and romantic, are bustling and full of crowds. Christmas romance dies in these crowds.

Singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan often come to Shanghai for special holiday concerts.
On stage, they sing, “We wish you a Merry Christmas!” while thinking: “Please give money to me!”

Vendors on the streets sell pirated CD’s of Christmas music.

The whole city is busy and crazy. But looking at Western people on the other side of the ocean, they light candles, listen to Christmas carols, and taste the turkey cooked by their moms.

No one teaches Chinese youth to spend their Christmas like this; we haven’t been taught by Westerners or Jesus.

So, who taught us these Chinese Christmas customs?

I am not a knowledgeable specialist, so I can not find the reason. I am only here to provide the truth about how the Chinese youth spend Christmas.

Christmas in China is a holiday both like and unlike other typical Chinese celebrations. On one hand, it gives people an excuse to exercise their consumer habits, and on the other hand some people treat it as the religious holiday that it is. However, it’s role and popularity amongst Chinese youth is something that we will be examining this week. Is there any cultural backlash to this holiday? What are typical Christmas activities for Chinese youth? How does Christmas span generations in China?

Stay posted to the enoVate blog for interesting articles and pictures that should get you into the festive holiday spirit, Chinese style.