In today's commercial world, it's often hard to remember that Christmas is a holiday celebrating a religious event, that of the birth of Christ. Since Christianity is not the official religion of China (and a very small percentage of Chinese in China are Christian), Christmas does not hold nearly as high of an importance to the Chinese society as it does to the Western world. In fact, the big holiday for most Chinese comes up early in the new year, Chinese New Year.
Still, the commercial aspects of this holiday have also spread to China. It is not uncommon these days to find Christmas trees and special decorations up in major Chinese cities. Gifts will be purchased and given. Parties will be had and celebrated.
The Chinese Santa Claus is known as Dun Che Lao Ren. People send and receive Christmas cards.
Christmas, for the most part, feels like Christmas celebrated in most any other part of the world.
In some ways, this is due to the Western influence that has been growing in momentum over the last few decades. For some, the idea of anything that is Western is appealing. For others, it's the practicality of timing celebrations the same as other parts of the world. For others still, there's never a bad reason to get together and celebrate family and friends.
There are a multitude of reasons Chinese celebrate Christmas. And there are some traditions that Chinese added to this holiday when they celebrate.
