by Amanda Vittitow

Created on: December 14, 2008

Christmas is considered a Western Festival, it is also considered one of the most popular and celebrated holidays around the world. Some countries have officially ordained December 25th as Christmas Day, but in China December 25th is not a legal holiday. In fact many Chinese work on Christmas day.
Although Christianity is unofficial in China, there are about 10 million Chinese who have been baptized (about 1 percent of the population) and do privately observe Christmas Day. Christmas in China is called, "Holy Birth Festival," or, "Sheng Dan Jieh." The popularity of midnight mass has, also, grown so quickly over the past couple of years that many Catholic churches cannot hold the numbers that come on Christmas Eve.

But with the world becoming a global village, Christmas has now become a festive occasion for an increasing amount of Chinese. With the arrival of winter comes the celebration of Christmas. Many Chinese decorate their homes with dazzling, Christmas lights, the Chinese Christmas tree, and yummy Christmas recipes. Their trees are usually artificial but are decorated with paper chains, paper flowers, and paper lanterns. Children may hang their stockings up in hopes that Dun Che Lao Ren (China's Santa) will visit and bring small gifts to fill their stockings. Some stores have the men dress in their Santa outfits and hand out candy while the waitresses wear Santa hats. The booming commercialism which has spread outward from Beijing has been called the Chinese phenomenon and started out as a friendly gestured aimed at Christian visitors.
Giving gifts is a big part of the Christmas season, and China is no different. The Chinese love exchanging gifts with one another. Exchanging gifts are an ideal way to express love and care towards the loved ones while celebrating the seasons signify spreading happiness to loved ones.
In China, people begin their Christmas celebrations with their decorations. These usually include lighting houses, using the paper lanterns and paper flowers. Another major highlight of celebrating the season are the local festivities in China. One of these festivities is the Spring Festival. Here, children are given new clothes, small toys, a yummy meal, and a firecracker. Here worshipping ancestors is the major part of this festival.
With every passing year, more and more Chinese are becoming conscious about the significance of Christmas, and more and more people are beginning to participate and immerse themselves in the Christmas spirit.
Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun!

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