In China, Christmas has not always been a publicly celebrated religious holiday. However, as China becomes more global, it has started to welcome a commercialized version of Christmas, known as "Sheng Dan Jieh" or the "Holy Birth Festival," with both religious and secular Chinese Christmas traditions.
In China, Santa is known as 'Sheng dan lao ren' (Traditional: 聖誕老人, Simplified: 圣诞老人; means Old Christmas Man).
Western countries celebrate Christmas with family, but in China celebrations are like Valentine's Day. It's a lighthearted day for young people to go out with their significant others and celebrate with small gifts. They also hang out with friends to go out to a movie, karaoke bar, or go shopping.
China's small population of Christians call Christmas Sheng Dan Jieh, or Holy Birth Festival. They decorate their homes with evergreen plants, posters, bright paper chains, and a Christmas tree, which they call a Tree of Light, adorned with paper lanterns, flowers, and red paper chains that symbolize happiness.
For those of you that want the short answer: yes! Yes they do. BUT it's quite different from how Westerners celebrate their most cherished holiday, so read on to learn more about what Christmas looks like in China!
There are a couple of countries which have adopted Christmas as an official holiday, but in most of them, it's rather secular event and not a religious one. In big Asian cities, however, you can often see lavish Christmas decorations, hear Christmas carols or even meet Santa Claus (or a variation of his).
Christmas is the equivalent of Valentine's Day in China
For the younger population, the Christmas season is a time for them to spend with their significant other. They exchange gifts, go on romantic walks to take in the beautiful decorations, or go on dates.
It's always a very merry Kentucky Christmas in Japan. Every year, millions of families make a beeline for the nearest KFC in Japan and order bucketloads of fried chicken. Children reach in for the best piece of the lot, commemorating what they know to be the most natural tradition–a KFC dinner for Christmas.
Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday in China. Chinese people have seven days off, and some may have 15 days off.
It is said that eating a peace apple on Christmas eve will bless you with a safe and peaceful year ahead. This tradition of gifting peace apples or “Ping'anguo” on Christmas Eve has become so popular in China that the price of apples rises every December 24.
National surveys conducted in the early 21st century estimated that some 80% of the population of China, which is more than a billion people, practice some kind of Chinese folk religion; 13–16% are Buddhists; 10% are Taoist; 2.53% are Christians; and 0.83% are Muslims.
Rules For A Chinese Christmas Exchange
Whomever chooses #1, goes first. Selecting gifts – #1 may select any of the unwrapped gifts. Whomever selected #2 can either take the opened gift or unwrap another gift. If the guest takes #1's gift, then #1 gets to select another gift from the pile.
China is a country with many religions. Buddhism, Taoism and Islam are quite popular, while there are also Christian believers (both Catholic and Protestant). Chinese citizens have freedom of religious belief.
used in writing or sometimes spoken to represent the sound of laughter. （表示笑声）呵呵
In Hong Kong, /Santa is most commonly called Santa Claus or Father Christmas. In Cantonese he is known as "Sing Daan Lou Yan" (Christmas Old Man) although most people use English to refer to him. Every year in Hong Kong there is a 'Winterfest'.
In Japan Santa is known as サンタさん、サンタクロース / Santa-san (Mr Santa) or サンタクロース / Santa-Kurosu (Santa Claus). (Another Japanese gift bringer is Hoteiosho, a Japanese god of good fortune from Buddhism.
The Chinese yuan renminbi (simplified Chinese: 人民币), or CNY, which means 'people's currency', is the official currency of the People's Republic of China. The term 'renminbi' refers to the name of the currency while 'yuan' refers to the basic unit of the Chinese currency. The symbol of the renminbi is ¥.
The 7-day holiday from Oct. 1st to 7th is called 'Golden Week', during which a large number of Chinese people go traveling around the country.
Though China has a day off on January 1, and some fireworks are let off then, most attention is focused on the traditional date of New Year. Chinese New Year falls in the period from January 21 to February 20. In 2023, Chinese New Year will fall on Jan. 22.
Unlike the Western World, Christmas has only been celebrated in Japan for the past few decades. And it's not recognized as a religious holiday. Instead, Christmas is a time for the Japanese to spread happiness and show love.
For over forty years, the Japanese have been dining with KFC's fried chicken on Christmas Eve. Thanks to a targeted marketing campaign, the fast-food chain was in fact able to create a real Christmas tradition.
While the origins are unknown and highly theorized, a common Christmas scene in China is saxophone Santa. That saxy Santa also forgoes the elves and is followed around by his sisters. Santa's sisters are typically women dressed in red and white that follow him around in shopping malls or on the street.
Over the past four decades, Christianity has grown faster in China than anywhere else in the world. Daryl Ireland, a Boston University School of Theology research assistant professor of mission, estimates that the Christian community there has grown from 1 million to 100 million.
During Christmas in China, they would normally eat a large dinner with dumplings, roast pork, and more. For breakfast they would eat all kinds of savory meals.