Christmas in China

Christmas is the biggest holiday festival in the United States and Western countries. You are quite familiar with the Christmas, but what’s the Christmas in China like? Do Chinese people celebrate Christmas the same way? In today’s Chinese tuition, we will take a look at what Chinese people do on Christmas. If you walked around a major Chinese city 20 years ago, you probably wouldn't have seen many signs of Christmas. However, if you visit those same Chinese cities today, you'd see signs of Christmas everywhere you go!

But since Christmas is not a holiday in mainland China, most Chinese people will be working as usual on Christmas Day. But more and more people, especially the young group are being part of the festival. Every year around this time, we can hear Christmas songs playing on the streets and in the shopping malls and stores, Christmas decorations can be seen very early before Dec. 25^th. Like in the west and America, many people in China see this day as a time to exchange gifts and wishes. Check out how to say Merry Christmas in Chinese. Even though the number of people starting to celebrate Christmas is increasing each year, most of them do not know the origin or the meaning of Christmas. They may simply regard this as a holiday of Santa Claus, an old man who would ride on a sleigh, bringing lots of gifts.

It seems Christmas is more popular and exciting among young people. In big cities of China, besides giving gifts and going to parties, they would go on a parade on the Christmas Eve, and would not go home until very late, to welcome the coming Christmas Day.

What’s Christmas like in your country? In today’s mandarin tutorial, we will learn a Chinese idiom called 入乡随俗 "Ru Xiang Sui Su", which literally means "when entering a local place, follow the rules". It is similar to "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". If you are in China this Christmas, then just follow the “rules” and the Chinese way of celebration!