Welcome to CHINA –the first stop for Christmas Around the World with CurrClick.
CurrClick invited me and nine other homeschool bloggers to give away goodies for this blog hop that teaches you about Christmas in other countries. Visit the schedule over at CurrClick so you don’t miss any of the posts and giveaways.
Keep reading for the giveaways and how to enter.
Celebrating the Birth of Christ in China
If you ask a Chinese person about Christmas, usually he will tell you that Chinese people don’t celebrate it. He may tell you that Chinese New Year is their “Christmas.” What he means, of course, is that Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday in China just as Christmas is the biggest holiday in the West.
In China, there are five state-approved religions: Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Protestantism, and Catholicism. It is estimated that less than 1% of Chinese people are Christian (including both Protestants and Catholics). With those facts, it makes sense why celebrating the birth of Jesus is not largely celebrated in China. Christmas Day and Christmas Eve are regular working and school days.
However, among that 1% of Chinese Christians, Christmas is a special day. Instead of putting up Christmas trees and exchanging gifts, Chinese Christians will meet together for a Christmas program with singing, skits, and reading the Christmas story. If Christmas Day falls on a weekday when everyone has to work, the celebrations will be shifted to the weekend when people are free.
Celebrating a Secular Christmas in China
But even though most Chinese people do not celebrate Christmas, you can see evidence of the secular aspect of the holiday in shops and public places.
Santa Hats
Santa Themed Banners
Christmas Trees
Sparkley Decorations
tinsel and fake snow
All of these photos are from previous years because the Christmas decorations don’t go up nearly as early as you see in America. Right now there are no Christmas decorations up in my city. Nor are any available to buy. In smaller cities, you will have to wait until mid-December to see any evidence of Christmas. But the Chinese people make up for it by leaving the decorations up a long time — sometimes until March or even later.
Special Christmas Eve Activities in China
Young people often use Christmas Eve as an excuse to have a fun night out. Here are some of the interesting ways they celebrate:
- They purchase inflatable hammers and bats and hit each other. (Watch this Youtube video to see it in action. I don’t have any audio on the laptop I’m using, so I can’t vouch for what you might hear. Preview first.)
- They exchange Christmas Eve apples — a red apple with a decorative bow on it.
- They spray each other with Silly String.
The Giveaways
CurrClick has donated six freebies for my readers. I’ve divided them up into three sets so that three people will win two products each.
To be eligible for the giveaways, leave me a comment telling me what surprised you most about Christmas in China. Or you can ask a question. Or if you live in China, please feel free to share your experiences of Christmas. China is huge and varies widely from region to region.
I’ll select the three winners randomly on Dec. 13.
1. Giveaway One
Understanding China by Educational Impressions
This book is divided into four sections: People, Ideas, Places, and Events. Each section of the book contains a broad sampling of 14 topics. Included for each individual topic you will find a brief narrative of factual background information, a visual support of the narrative, interdisciplinary activities to extend understanding, (Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies and the Arts) and opportunities for to students to create their own activities.
AND
Christmas Copywork by Lilliput Station
Let your child learn the true story of Christmas as they practice their writing skills. This file contains fourteen different copywork pages with verses from the KJV Bible and one with a verse from a hymn. Each page is illustrated with black and white drawings and comes with both primary and straight lines.
2. Giveaway Two
1. Our Global Village – China by Milliken
Bring the world a little closer with these multicultural books. An excellent way for students to appreciate and learn cultural diversity in an exciting hands-on format. Each book explores the history, language, holidays, festivals, customs, legends, foods, creative arts, lifestyles, and games of the title country. A creative alternative to student research reports and a time-saver for teachers since the activities and resource material are contained in one book.
AND
2. Study of Ancient China: A Multi-book Approach by 4 Little Penguins
Curious about the Silk Route? Wondering how Chinese writing developed? Look no further! This multi-book study on Ancient China will answer those questions and many others! Daily life, architecture, warfare, science and technology, trade, and much more is covered during this study. By the end of this course a deep understanding of Ancient China should be evident.
3. Giveaway Three
1. History Scribe – Ancient China by Westvon Publishing
Children learn as they draw and write history…your children bring history alive with their own creative hands! Learn about the facinating history of China, through the Shang Dynasty up to the Ming Dynasty! The Great Wall, the Silk Route, Inventions and much more. Help with your timeline studies. Includes over 30 pages to illustrate and narrate. All History Scribe Books include a couple blank pages for any special topics you’d like to cover and maps of the region covered.
AND
2. China Unit Study by Homeschool Learning Network
In this unit, we will learn about ancient Chinese dynasties and ancient Chinese religion, writing, food, folklore, geography and government. Lesson plans include: Vocabulary, WebQuests, Timeline, Paper Making, Cutting and Calligraphy, Philosophy, A Mathematical Journey Through the Chinese Calendar, Folktales, Stories and Legends and more.
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Hi, I'm Jimmie, and this is my online collage -- a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but mostly homeschooling with a loosely Charlotte Mason style. You're welcome to poke around and leave a comment if you desire. 
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I think it’s interesting that there are no decorations up yet. I am so used to seeing Christmas decorations starting in late October. In my house, we wait until after Thanksgiving to set up our Christmas decorations, but I love having them up all December in anticipation of Christmas Day.
The inflatable bats for children is funny! My kids would love that! I am most surprised that they leave decorations up for so long.
We are doing our own Winter Holidays and Christmas Around the World study this month and this fits in beautifully!
Thank you!!
Janece Suarez´s last [type] ..What I Can’t Do
We’ve just returned from visiting China. My son was adopted from Chengdu and we visited over Thanksgiving so he could see where he was from.
We (my husband and I) had been to China for Christmas 10 years ago. I was surprised that Christmas was celebrated then (by going to bars and countdown – much like New Year’s here). Decorations were already up where we were, but maybe because they were catering more to tourists?
DS asked our guide if Halloween was celebrated and our guide said, “Yes, we go out for karaoke.” LOL
Great example about the karaoke! Thanks for sharing that!
Chengdu is a BIG, developed city with lots of foreigners. I am not surprised that you saw Christmas things in Nov. In smaller cities (like mine — 5 million) that doesn’t happen.
We will be moing to China in Feb. and I’ve been reading your blog to help me get a better handle on what to expect living and homeschooling in China. As the Christmas season is upon us, I’ve been thinking a lot about how our Christmas will look next year when we are China and so this blog post was especially timely for me. One of my big concerns has been if we will be able to find a Christmas tree and I was glad to see in your post that it will be possible. However, the pictured tree in your post is quite a bit different from the one we typically cut down
and so I was wondering if it is possible to find more traditional style Christmas trees…. either real or artificial?
Thanks for the great blog!
NEVER seen a live tree for sale in China. (Of course if you lived in a rural area that had fir trees growing wild, I guess you could cut one down. But that seems to be a very remote chance.) The fake trees are often short, not very lush. They are sort of Charlie Brown Christmas trees. But you CAN find them. Just enjoy the fresh experience of a Chinese Christmas for what it is.
Thanks! We were debating on getting an artificial tree here during the after-Christmas sales to take with us, but I’m thinking we may take your advice and just embrace the full Chinese Christmas experience for what it is.
I was surprised that the Chinese Christians have to work and celebrate on the weekend if Christmas falls on a week day. I am glad that they do celebrate though.
Thanks for this post – especially for linking to the whole series. My daughter and I are doing an Advent unit study and we will be looking at Christmas practices in Mexico. (We chose Mexico because one of her friends recently moved there, so she’s very interested in what she’s experiencing right now.) Thanks for sharing how Christmas is celebrated where you are!
WordGirl´s last [type] ..GRANNY
I lived in Japan one year for Christmas. The best way to explain Christmas celebration there is a lot like Valentine’s Day in America (maybe other countries, too, but I only know USA). People acknowledge it with treats and decorations, but it really is just another day. They don’t celebrate with apples like in China, but with Christmas cake, a white fluffy frosted cake with Christmas scenes on it (nothing religious, of course). Everybody was disappointed that I’d never had Christmas cake before. I think it was a tradition they’d picked up from the Europeans. The big holiday in Japan is a week later, O-Shogatsu, on New Year’s Day. That’s when they feast, join up with family, and honor religious tradition.
I was pretty surprised to read about leaving the decorations up until March. (Well the Easter celebration-takes care of that here in America.) Hee hee..
Michellel´s last [type] ..Hopeful
I’m surprised that inflatable hammers are traditional. My kids would get in way too much trouble with that
I love this idea of learning about Christmas around the world. We thought the inflatable hammers and bats were pretty funny. Why do they buy those and hit each other? Where does that come from? Thanks for you information!
Wow! I had no idea that Catholicism or Protestantism were state-approved?! From what we hear, there is still persecution there.
The silly-string tradition is interesting to me because that’s common along the Texas Hispanic population at Easter (smashing each other on the head with confetti-filled eggs (cascarones) and spraying each other with silly string. Apparently there’s global appeal to the sticky gunk
Merry Christmas!
Hillary at Home´s last [type] ..Centsible Update-HSC Programming Times for the Holiday Class
The first time I visited China was in 1983. There were no celebrations, or even plastic things that represented Christmas. Heavens, we couldn’t even find M&Ms or Coke! ;o) But, we celebrated in our hotel with a tiny plastic tree that my mother brought in her suitcase and a bag of M&Ms that we shared with the floor staff! We spent the evening teaching them how to play poker. The only Christmas music we had with us was a cassette tape of The Chipmunks and we played it to death! It drove the rest of our tour batty! ;o)
Our second Christmas in China was in 2006. I was there with my three oldest daughters and we were adopting our third child from China. We were out walking around one night and came around a corner to find a HUGE (several stories high) Christmas tree and Silent Night was blaring from speakers around the square. I had to laugh because it would be so “un-pc” to play such a non-secular song here in the States in a public place!
The most interesting thing for us is receiving the annual “Christmas Card” from my oldest daughter’s orphanage! I find it interesting that they have chosen this holiday to send out cards rather than Chinese New Year!
I have had those kinds of experiences too. It’s very surreal to hear Christmas hymns in a public place in China. I think that it’s simply because people don’t understand what the songs MEAN that they are played. Otherwise, you’d never hear them.
And I’m sure the orphanage is trying to fit into your customs rather than being Chinese (which you probably would appreciate even more).
Loved reading about the traditions of Christmas in China. I thought the hammers were especially funny. Maybe my daughter and I can use that one. LOL
Karen´s last [type] ..Crafts- WhoDunIt & Skate Day…
Thank you for an interesting article about China. I was most surprised by the Santa hats and decorations. My kids were most surprised by the silly string and would like to add it our Christmas celebrations.
I found it interesting that 1% of people in China arev
Christian. I also really enjoyed learning about the Apple gifts. I think that it would a lot easier to remember the true reason for the season living in a place that is not so focused on the commercialism that we often are here.
What a fun idea! I found out about Christmas Around the World through Cocoa at Chocolate on my Cranium. So neat that you live in China and home school too. We live in Indiana and home school.
My kids thought it was funny that people leave their holiday decorations up so long! They want to know if your family puts up a Christmas tree in your home.
I am wondering if you would hear any Christmas music on the radio or in the stores etc?
Judi´s last [type] ..Week 48 Running Report
Yes, we always put up a Christmas tree in our home. And yes, we do hear Christmas music in large department stores.
My dd wants to ask a question: WHY do they hit each other with inflatable bats and hammers? How did that tradition start?
So sorry to say that I have no idea.
I am not really shocked that they don’t celebrate Christmas in China. With most not believing in Christianity it makes sense. My mil is from Taiwan and so we celebrate Chinese new years with our children to honor their grandmother’s heritage.
It is interesting to see the commercial trappings of Christmas in a country that doesn’t officially celebrate this holiday.Is this for the benefit of foreigners ? Is the materialism of the west catching on ?
Definitely not for the benefit of foreigners. My city, for example, has only a handful of foreigners, but Chinese restaurants will put up a tree for the holiday. I can’t really explain why. I guess it’s perceived as being cool or modern or western (thus good).
The inflatable hammer and bat seems like an odd Christmas thing to do. I am also surprised that Christmas has become so “secular” around the world.
Brings back great memories. We were in China Thanksgiving of 2006 and the more western hotels were decorating for Christmas. Then we adopted Grace on Christmas of 2008 (China). The hotel in Zhengzhou did a great job of converting the Christmas house into a CNY house selling goodies overnight…
How I miss China! I love living vicariously through you. We keep trying to figure out a way to move there, even temporarily.
Charlene´s last [type] ..Depraved Indifference
Thank you so much for your post. I was planning on studying how other countries celebrate Christmas for Geography this month so your post gives me a great jumping off point.
Like some others I was a little taken back by the hats and hitting thing too!
I find it interesting that China is accepting of Islam, and the apples as gifts.
Thanks for the information about Christmas in China. I would like to know who buys the secular Christmas decorations? Do they just do it to decorate or do they do it as a nod to American customs?
And there are no Christian type decorations like manger scenes and angels, right?
All decorations (save an odd exception here and there) are secular. Stores and restaurants tend to put up Christmas things. Again, I can’t say exactly WHY. It’s not for a “nod to American customs.” There is no reason for that. I think that in China’s effort to modernize, they are quick to accept what they consider Western customs that are easy to add on — such as hanging a Santa decoration on the door.
I think it is wonderful and was very surprised by the fact that if Christmas Day falls on a weekday when everyone has to work, the celebrations are shifted to the weekend so that people can celebrate together. What a great way to keep the focus on the “reason for the season.” Thank you for sharing with us!
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog for a couple of years. I’ve regularly used your blog as a teaching tool. Since my children both are involved in Kung Fu (a Chinese martial art), they enjoy learning about “real” life in China today. What surprised me the most abput your post was how long Chinese people leave up their decorations. I wonder why?
Thanks for sharing Jimmie! Merry Christmas!
Why does the guy down the street take down his lights in February? The answer is probably the same.
Really appreciate your post as I’ve wondered about Christmas in China. Do people (secular) do much with gifts at Christmas? Or do they save the gifting part for New Year? Anyone have Christmas trees?
My son is THRILLED to do our Christmas tree. He’s been home from China for 18 months and clearly remembers everything from last year!
Cindy´s last [type] ..Advent Calendar of Math Games
No. Generally there is no gift giving. If there is gift-giving, it is parents/adults to children and not the other way around. My Chinese friends always are amazed that we truly EXCHANGE gifts rather than just GIVE gifts to the children.
I mean that my daughter and my husband give me gifts. It’s not just parents buying toys for children. Their own New Year custom is that adults give children red packets. Adults do not receive gifts. So I think that carries over into their expectations for Christmas.
The differences in the way they celebrate Christmas does not surprise me. My interest in different cultures and history has shown me that when other cultures try to imitate what we do in the US it can get quite interesting.
I like Lynn’s question above and wonder what your answer is.
Hi Jimmie
I’m surprised by the santa stuff really and think the blow-up hammer bit is hilarious. My kids would be up for that especially as they both won a hammer at the fair so they’re armed and ready
It’s lovely to read all the other comments left too
Belzi´s last [type] ..Home Ed christmas camp
Neat! Interesting about Christmas Eve and the young folks.
Coincidental, I was just about to post some Chinese paper dolls and a panda with Chinese clothes. I’ll post them tonight.
Just commenting…not casting my lot for the freebies.
Nice freebies…just can’t load up the boy with anymore work! I tend to get carried away with learning items. Everything looks interesting to me.
Alexandra´s last [type] ..Saving on Food Purchases- The One Dollar a Pound Limit
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