Chinese Christmas Traditions

With Christmas being a western holiday, it's not always been publicly celebrated in China. However, as China has become more global over the last few years, it has welcomed a commercialised version, otherwise known as Sheng Dan Jieh, the Holy Birth Festival.

The festival has no religious or spiritual connections. Instead, it's more of a romantic holiday for large groups to gather together and enjoy. Here, we will be exploring popular traditions and customs at Christmas time! Check out our Chinese online supermarket in the UK for traditional recipes.

What Day is Christmas in China?

Like everywhere else China celebrates Christmas on the 25th of December. As it's not a public holiday, schools, offices, and businesses remain open.

Chinese Christmas Traditions

Christmas is treated more like Valentine's Day; it's a light-hearted celebration often spent with friends instead of family. Many Chinese people will go out with their friends and go to karaoke bars or shopping centres. With that said, Christmas Eve is now the biggest day of the year for shopping in China.

Young couples will participate in the festive atmosphere and celebrate together, enjoying romantic activities and expressing their love for one another.

On Christmas Eve, it's tradition to eat a 'Peace Apple'. This is most common among young people, which they will send as gifts to their friends. The locals say that eating an apple on Christmas Eve will bless you with a safe and peaceful year ahead. The tradition started from 'Christmas Eve', translating to 'ping'an ye', which means 'peaceful night' in Mandarin. The tradition evolved with the Mandarin word for apple ('ping guo') sounding very similar.

Religion and Christmas in China

Although Christmas celebrations are increasing, Nationalists are cautious and, in some cases, far from happy with the thought of integrating it into their society and culture.

Around 5% of the Chinese population is Christian, which is about 68 million. Although this is a substantial number of people, tight regulations on religious practices are enforced due to fear of foreign imperialism. Instead, they want their cultural celebrations to be supported as they believe Western culture is becoming too dominant.

With that said, many of the religious aspects of the festive season are forbidden in particular areas. However, most Chinese people see the festive season as an excuse to have fun with their friends and take no notice of the traditional Christian message.

Chinese Santa Claus

Western Santa significantly differs from China's version. Santa is known as 'Sheng Dan Lao ren' in Mandarin, which translates to 'Christmas Old Man'; he is seen as a non-religious figure who resides in China's 'North Pole'.

If you set out to visit Santa at the shopping centre, you might notice something a bit different. Instead of having helper elves, Chinese Santa is usually accompanied by his sisters, a group of young women in red costumes that vaguely resemble those worn by their elf counterparts in the West.

Not only does Santa have sisters, but he also plays the saxophone! As you make your way through the streets and shopping centres, you'll often find Santa playing a variety of instruments, which can include the saxophone, trumpet or even French horn.

Chinese Christmas Decorations

Although Christmas isn't a highly celebrated holiday, the season often involves a lot of spectacular decorations!

One of the most popular is a variety of beautiful paper lanterns strung around a plastic Christmas tree called the 'Tree of Light'.

Chinese Christmas Food

Christmas dinner is usually enjoyed at a restaurant as opposed to home-cooked food. This is due to a few reasons, such as Christmas not being a public holiday, restaurants remaining open and advertising campaigns encouraging people to eat out during the Christmas season.

Western-style restaurants will serve 'traditional' roasts. However, as turkeys are not native to China, hotels and restaurants will receive bookings months in advance to ensure that there is enough for everyone to enjoy.

Some Chinese people have begun to cook their feasts at home for the day. As turkey is a little harder to come by, more traditional Chinese foods are chosen, such as Chicken Lo Mein, Peking duck, or dumplings.

If you want to give a unique and thoughtful gift this Christmas, why not take a look at our Chinese bowls, tea sets and functional yet beautiful tableware?