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Q: Why do chinese celebrate Christmas?
If chinese are not Catholics, Christians or Jewish why do they celebrate Christmas?. I asked them if they know the meaning of Christmas and they don't know. My feeling is they just do it for earning as much money as they can, like everything in china
Indeed, it's all about money and face. All they know about Christmas are gifts and Santa Claus, when you try to tell them the true meaning of it they think it's boring.
Why do Christians celebrate Christmas? It's a pagan festival. Most scholars seem to think Jesus was really born around March.
Spiderboenz:
Numerous traditions were co-opted from.pagan belief systems. Christmas tree= Pagan Yule=Norse Santa= inspired by Odin Date coincides with pagan festivals related to the "death and rebirth" of the sun.
Shining_brow:
And let's not forget the Bacchanalia/Saturnalia.
"Christmas" is a take-over of the local pagan festivals to welcome the sun back to the world (after the 3 darkest days of the year - the Winter Solstice/Mid-Winter).
So, for Christians (who were seen as fairly tame and boring), they 'stole' the local festivals, and added their own ideas onto them - in this case, the 'sun' of god was born around now!
They celebrate Christmas so they can collect money by hosting stupid parties and events that people will go to just because.
"Celebrate" is the wrong word. The Chinese "imitate" Christmas for many of the reasons previously stated. The shops, restaurants and hotels like the commercial aspects of Christmas and the citizens just see it as another excuse for a night out and a party.
I attended a Christmas Eve event last night in a hotel. Aside from a few Christmas trees and reindeers adorning the buffet area, there was nothing to really associate any of it with Christmas at all. None of the performances had any relation to Christmas whatsoever.
Christmas as a festival is far older than Christianity. It was another instance of the church overlaying their beliefs in order to wipe out other beliefs. The true celebration is to welcome the winter solstice with the promise of a new year about to begin. If you want to celebrate as a rellgious festival then fine but don't spread the idea that this is the true meaning.
For the same reasons some non-Anglo-Saxon countries celebrates Halloween. Old pagans festivals are opportunities to sell something and party.
Jewish people don't celebrate Christmas!
And Catholics are Christians!
Seems the OP doesn't know much about religions......
Merry Christmas to all!
davo:
I know plenty of Jews who celebrate Christmas
So maybe the question should be why do so many non - Christians
celebrate Christmas?
Hotwater:
Obviously not orthodox Jews then.....as the Jewish religion doesn't recognise Jesus as the son of God.
But you're right...why do non-Christians celebrate his supposed birth-day?
Because Chinese holidays invovle being bossed around by old people, so foreign ones are better.
You don't have to go back more than a few years to find China completely free of xmas. My first xmas in China was in 2009 and there was close to zero things going down in Zhuhai. Hong Kong on the other hand was very decorated and had a xmassy feel (although that year it was 25C+ during the xmas days which I don't associate with xmas)
It's all about selling crap and buying face
Shining_brow:
Scandi, Xmas in Australia is outdoors, under the sun, having a BBQ on the beach/in the park/back yard... :D
Scandinavian:
sure, but Aussies also consider Fosters to be a beer. It is crazy opposite country..... I wonder if hot snow falls up in Australia.
I've actually been asking students this question, and the answer seems to be a combination of it being a Western holiday (yeah, I know, Jesus was actually Asian (Israel is in Western Asia), but the whole Christmas deal as it is today is more or less a product of the West) that they see on TV and movies, so are curious about it. It's something novel and interesting. This is more of a thing for younger people, who are open to "foreign" culture.
The commercial aspect is a big one too. As has been confirmed by like every single class, Chinese people like shopping (generally speaking, and more applicable to the middle to upper classes), and shopping malls latched on to Christmas in a big way, in order to encourage shopping. Gift giving is a big part of Chinese culture, and so a holiday where gift giving is one of the most prominent aspects seems a perfect fit for China. It also gives parents another excuse to spoil their kids with presents (I've also heard tell of Thanksgiving presents).
There's a huge financial incentive for stores to push Christmas (the secular version, at least), in order to encourage spending.
I also found that Chinese students (both teens and college students) do know Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ, but it's something they almost never think of. To them, it's about gift giving, apples, and going out to eat.
Eorthisio:
Young Chinese are only open to "foreign" culture for what arranges them. They give angry stares at foreign men dating chinese women, older people don't do that.
Mateusz:
Well, I would say in general, the younger generation is more open and less conservative than the older. For one, the older generation had much less exposure to people from non-Chinese cultural backgrounds (for that matter, the majority of Chinese didn't even have much exposure to non-Han culture). With more younger people having contact with Westerners, interest in Western culture is at least rising among them.
As far as hostility, yeah, I've seen some of it in younger people, but generally, it's out of ignorance (like their parents told them to distrust people who look different, or are of a different culture), but I've seen it more in the older generation. I never had kids tell me that my kind doesn't belong in China, spit on me, or shout threats (from the safety of a passing truck) when seeing me with a Han Chinese woman. All that has happened to me from people in the 30-40 and above crowd.
I always liked that about the chinese. They are always looking for a party. Often we accuse them of close minded ness but a half assed celebration of Xmas suggests the opposite
I think they are mostly just looking for something to celebrate just like the non Christians in the West who also continue celebrating it because its part of their culture. The difference between them and the Christian of course is that the Christian actually believes he found something worthy of celebrating.
one really strange reasons there are christians in china
