Calls for boycott of Christmas in China rather miss the point

Two girls dressed as Santa Claus dance in a shopping mall in Beijing on the night of Dec 24, 2016. Although Christmas is not traditionally celebrated in China, shopping malls welcome the festival by organizing activities to attract shoppers and boost year-end sales. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

"All Chinese people should cherish our traditions and boycott foreign festivals!" On Christmas Day, groups of female college students wearing traditional clothes appeared at several tourist sites in Chengdu, South China's Sichuan province, calling for people to boycott Christmas. Beijing News comments:

Every December, there are some people that call on others to boycott Christmas. They protest on the streets and some of the more radical ones even disturb the normal operations of shops. These people have one reason in common for their actions, they regard Christmas as a foreign festival and when Chinese celebrate it that's a kind of cultural invasion.

It seems these people are rather ignorant. They do not know that New Year is a foreign festival and they forget the calendar we currently use originated in the West, too. That's not a cultural invasion; instead, that's cultural interaction between the East and the West.

From the other point of view, many foreigners celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year, too, and rarely do we see anyone calling for the celebration to be boycotted.

Some people argue that Christmas is a religious festival. Not in China. Whatever others think, Chinese people make Christmas into a carnival and celebrate it by drinking, holding parties, and gathering with friends. Several surveys show that a majority of people celebrating Christmas do not know what the festival is about. All they want is an excuse to relax and there is no need to boycott that.

More importantly, traditional Chinese festivals are often a burden for many adults. For example, in order to celebrate Spring Festival, many travel thousands of kilometers back to their hometowns. Many young people working in metropolises find they are even more tired after such festivals, but other occasions such as Christmas allow people to relax and have a good time.