Christmas is not a traditional holiday in China, but many Chinese people like the idea
of celebrating Christmas. For them, this is not a religious holiday but a day to hang
out with friends. Through watching movies and reading articles on the Internet, Chinese
people learn how the West celebrates Christmas and they took some of the Christmas elements
and make Christmas as a part of Chinese culture.
In this video, I'll show you what Chinese people do on Christmas.
While in the West most people celebrate Christmas
at home with family, in China friends and family would not stay home but go to a big
mall for a crowded Christmas. Why? Because Chinese people like to shop and therefore
businesses decorate Christmas in a big mall to make their consumers happy. Chinese people
only decorate their homes for Chinese New Year, even though decorations for Chinese
New Year are everywhere throughout indoor and outdoor shopping malls as well.
In the mall, Christmas is busy and noisy as you can imagine people of all ages would crowed
into the mall for two purposes. First shopping for the best Christmas sales and second, taking
pictures with friends and family in front of Santa Claus and Christmas decorations.
So Christmas in a mall is like a Disneyland for everybody.
To me, I like to listen to Christmas music in the mall. Well...it's noisy but as a Chinese
person, I like the noisy environment. And to us this is not noise, we describe it as
full of life 热闹 [Rè nào] . To learn more Christmas vocabulary,
click here to go to our website
.Frequently asked questions
Do Chinese people celebrate Christmas in general? The answer is yes and no. For sure there would
be more Chinese people celebrating Christmas if there was a public holiday in China. But
it's not, so people have to work on Christmas. Those who have time to celebrate for Christmas
are students and young adults since they like to have fun and they know more about the Christmas
traditions compared to the older generations.
For this reason, Chinese people are more likely to celebrate with friends than family.
Do Chinese people host Christmas dinner at home?
No. First, Chinese people don't have ovens at home so there are no homemade pies or stuffing
to be served. Interestingly, for the younger generations, their Christmas dinner is to
be with friends and go to American big chain fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, KFC
and Pizza Hut. Well...unlike some chains in America, these branded fast food restaurants
are group friendly, new and clean. So they charge Chinese people quite a lot for group meals.
As you can see from the commercial, it looks nice at Pizza Hut, right?
And for young couples who have jobs and income, they will go to a nice hotel for a Christmas dinner buffet.
Finally, do Chinese people have outdoor Christmas lights?
Not really. You may find some Christmas lights in a big city like Shanghai. If you can visit
Hong Kong during Christmas, do it. Hong Kong has amazing Christmas lights every year and
even Chinese people from mainland Chinese will come to Hong Kong for Christmas light shows.
That's all for today. Christmas is a fun holiday for Chinese people and even Pandas love it.
Click on our Christmas playlist for more video lessons.
LearnHowToChinese wishes all of you a Merry [ shèng dàn kuài lè ]. Christmas!
Bye.