Christmas in China, the people’s way

Despite the secular trappings of an imported holiday, the Chinese have devised a type of giving that captures the Christmas spirit.

The Monitor's View

Anyone visiting China during Christmas – the world’s most widely celebrated religious holiday – should be prepared to find that the commemoration of Christ’s coming has been imported as a secular, commercialized “festival.”

In public displays, Santa – called Old Christmas Person – usually holds a saxophone. He is single. Instead of elves, he has sisters. Christmas trees, mostly fake and mostly set up by retailers, are known as “trees of light.” Don’t bother looking for a manger scene. If you visit a mall decked out in red-and-green decorations, you may tire of “Jingle Bells” being played again and again.

For the less than 5% of Chinese who are Christians, there is an inkling of the day’s meaning in the Mandarin translation of Christmas: Holy Birth Festival (Shèngdàn jié).

Yet even that bow to God’s gift of divine truth was countered by a command last December from the ruling Communist Party that Christianity in China must be “in line with ... excellent Chinese traditions and culture.” (Some Christmas displays do include dragons.)

Well, party leaders might be glad that the masses over recent decades have devised a very popular Chinese tradition. Young people now use Christmas Eve to give an unusual gift – “peace apples” – to close friends.

Yes, apples. But not any apples. Only the finest kind, wrapped in boxes, adorned with ribbons, and imprinted with Christmas messages, often in gold, on the red skin. The crafted fruit can cost six times more than normal. One box even cost more than an Apple iPhone. And this in a country that produces about half of the world’s apples and consumes the most apples.

While the thought behind these fruity presents is one of charity, humility, and goodwill, the origin of “peace apples” is less lofty. In Mandarin, the first syllable of the word for apple (píngguǒ) is the same as the first syllable in the word for Christmas Eve (píngān yè), which is translated as “peace night.” In other words, a fun play on words has become a solemn and symbolic act of the Christmas spirit.

So, visitors to China at Christmas, please note: A foreign holiday meant to worship the Prince of Peace has become a paean to peace for and by the Chinese people. While their rulers claim China is a global promoter of peace – something people in Taiwan, Tibet, Vietnam, Japan, and the Philippines would dispute – real peace on Earth is being expressed heart to heart. The Chinese are giving the lowly apple its due with their generous adornment, as if it’s a gentle babe lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.

It’s not exactly apples for apples. But the truth behind Christmas can show up anywhere, even in an excellent new tradition.