{"id":182276,"date":"2021-06-14T12:25:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T16:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/chinese-christmas-greetings\/"},"modified":"2025-01-18T23:48:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T04:48:20","slug":"chinese-christmas-greetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/chinese\/chinese-christmas-greetings\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Festive Chinese Christmas Greetings and Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Believe it or not, Christmas is actually a pretty popular holiday in China<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, you’ll see the signs of Christmas fever in larger cities across China, such as Beijing and Shanghai where they’ll often put up giant decorated pine trees in shopping centers and host Christmas plays and events.<\/p>\n

If you’re in China or spending time with Chinese speakers, here’s how to spread Christmas cheer to friends and family in Mandarin through Chinese gestures<\/a> and phrases, and by partaking in Christmas traditions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc skip=4]<\/p>\n

5 Jolly Chinese Christmas Greetings<\/h2>\n

\u5723\u8bde\u5feb\u4e50\uff01(sh\u00e8ng d\u00e0n ku\u00e0i l\u00e8!)<\/em> \u2014 Merry Christmas!<\/h3>\n

\u5723\u8bde\u5feb\u4e50 is definitely the go-to phrase to use when greeting someone during the holidays.<\/p>\n

Quite literally, it means “Christmas happy.”<\/strong> The extended version of this phrase is \u5723\u8bde\u8282\u5feb\u4e50(sh\u00e8ng d\u00e0n ji\u00e9 ku\u00e0i l\u00e8)<\/em>, which simply adds \u8282,<\/em> meaning “holiday,” into the equation. It’s also worth noting that \u5723\u8bde\u8282, literally meaning “Holy Birth Festival,” is the full phrase for “Christmas.”<\/p>\n

Either greeting is appropriate to say to friends, family and strangers, although \u5723\u8bde\u8282\u5feb\u4e50 is a bit of a mouthful. Feel free to listen to the pronunciation with this video from Learn Chinese with Emma<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

Even though only around 5% of China’s population<\/a> identifies as Christian, it’s fine to use \u5723\u8bde\u5feb\u4e50 around the holidays, especially if you’re in a large Chinese city. Christmas is seen as more of a fun, commercial, non-national holiday to non-Christian Chinese people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In big cities, you’ll likely see stores pumping out holiday tunes, the streets lit up with Christmas lights and extravagant, massive Christmas trees. You’ll also see performers dressed as \u5723\u8bde\u8001\u4eba(sh\u00e8ng d\u00e0n l\u01ceo r\u00e9n)<\/em>, which, funnily enough, literally translates to “Old Christmas Guy,” obviously in reference to “Santa Claus.”<\/p>\n

\u8036\u8bde\u5feb\u4e50\uff01(y\u0113 d\u00e0n ku\u00e0i l\u00e8!)<\/em> \u2014 Happy birthday, Jesus!<\/h3>\n

If you have a Christian Mandarin-speaking friend, you can give them a very special, more religious Christmas greeting.<\/p>\n

\u8036\u8bde\u5feb\u4e50 is a great religious greeting to say to Christians around Christmastime. \u8036 is short for \u8036\u7a23(y\u0113 s\u016b)<\/em> meaning “Jesus.” These characters individually don’t actually have any meaning in Chinese but serve as a transliteration of “Jesus” and other foreign names. Literally, \u8036\u8bde\u5feb\u4e50 translates to \u201cMerry Jesus\u2019 birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due to cultural sensitivities, it’s best to limit this phrase to Christian Chinese speakers.<\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

As mentioned before, though only 5% of China is composed of active Christians, those numbers are growing. Unfortunately, according to the BBC<\/a>, many Christian Chinese people in smaller cities turn to underground churches due to religious persecution from the Chinese Communist Party. On the other hand, expatriate-dense cities such as Shanghai have grown to accommodate numerous denominations, with tons of churches offering multilingual services in various languages, including Chinese.<\/p>\n

That being said, if you have a Chinese friend who’s Christian, you may not even know it.<\/p>\n

\u4f73\u8282\u5feb\u4e50\uff01(ji\u0101 ji\u00e9 ku\u00e0i l\u00e8!)<\/em> \u2014 Happy holidays!<\/h3>\n

Christmas is just one of the many holidays that take place in China during the month of December. As a matter of fact, there are many holidays during this time that are more widely celebrated by Chinese people than Christmas.<\/p>\n

If you want a more inclusive phrase to use during the winter months that doesn’t involve saying “Merry Christmas,” \u4f73\u8282\u5feb\u4e50 is a good alternative. It literally translates as “Merry Festivities.” You can practice saying it with this video from Lauren Liu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Again, \u5723\u8bde\u5feb\u4e50 is uttered by Christian and non-Christian Chinese people alike, but using this broader phrase is a bit more polite.<\/p>\n

You can also say \u8282\u65e5\u5feb\u4e50(ji\u00e9r\u00ec ku\u00e0il\u00e8)<\/em> to wish someone “Happy Holidays!”<\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

\u51ac\u81f3(d\u014dng zh\u00ec)<\/em> is the winter solstice, which occurs around December 22nd and often involves ancestor veneration, big feast days, getting together with family and celebrating what some consider the Chinese Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Another holiday is the \u814a\u516b\u8282(l\u00e0 b\u0101 ji\u00e9)<\/em> or the\u00a0Laba Festival<\/a>, which occurs on the eighth day of December. This holiday is the day that the Buddha attained enlightenment, and Chinese people (especially Buddhists) will celebrate by eating Laba congee (or rice porridge), preparing garlic vinegar and participating in farming festivals.<\/p>\n

\u81f4\u4ee5\u8282\u65e5\u7684\u95ee\u5019\u4e0e\u6e29\u99a8\u7684\u795d\u798f\uff01(zh\u00ec y\u01d0 ji\u00e9r\u00ec de w\u00e8nh\u00f2u y\u01d4 w\u0113nx\u012bn de zh\u00f9f\u00fa!)<\/em> \u2014 Season’s greetings and warm wishes!<\/h3>\n

Here’s another way to wish someone well in the holiday season without any religious connotations. If you’re writing Christmas cards or sending greetings through WeChat, you can either say \u81f4\u4ee5\u8282\u65e5\u7684\u95ee\u5019(zh\u00ec y\u01d0 ji\u00e9r\u00ec de w\u00e8nh\u00f2u) <\/em>for “Season’s Greetings” or \u81f4\u4ee5\u6e29\u99a8\u7684\u795d\u798f(zh\u00ec y\u01d0 w\u0113nx\u012bn de zh\u00f9f\u00fa)<\/em> for “Warm Wishes.”<\/p>\n

You can also combine the two phrases with \u4e0e(y\u01d4),<\/em> meaning “and.”<\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

\u81f4\u4ee5(zh\u00ec y\u01d0)<\/em> means “to extend greetings to someone.” It’s also considered an informal greeting, so save this one for your close friends and stick with the previous wishes for elders and acquaintances.<\/p>\n

\u5bd2\u5047\u5feb\u4e50\uff01(h\u00e1nji\u00e0 ku\u00e0il\u00e8!)<\/em> \u2014 (Have a) Happy winter vacation!<\/h3>\n

If you have Chinese-speaking friends traveling over winter break, you can wish them happy travels with the phrase \u5bd2\u5047\u5feb\u4e50. This is also a good general greeting since it’s more about having fun during time off and not specific to any celebration.<\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

Normally, families in China won’t go on winter vacation in December unless their children attend an international school that includes Christmas and New Year’s on the holiday calendar. This greeting is more appropriate for international communities in China, although you can also say this to locals before their Lunar New Year or Spring Festival travels.<\/p>\n

5 Charming Chinese Christmas Traditions<\/h2>\n

Offer and receive gifts with both hands (and bring apples!)<\/h3>\n

Whether it’s for Christmas, someone’s birthday or a polite expression to a boss or coworker, you should always present gifts with both hands. Why? Well, it’s considered very polite.<\/p>\n

Just handing a gift to someone or using one hand to receive a gift comes off as slightly rude. When you use two hands to take or present a gift, no matter how small, your body language indicates your respect for the gift giver or receiver. In China, this is known as \u9762\u5b50(mi\u00e0n zi)<\/em> or “saving face.” And if you’ve been studying modern Chinese culture for some time, you might know a bit about the importance of saving and giving face<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thus, give Christmas gifts with both hands. If someone gives you a gift, thank the giver profusely.<\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

When in doubt, you can always gift your loved ones with apples. In Mandarin, “Christmas Eve” is \u5723\u8bde\u591c(sh\u00e8ngd\u00e0n y\u00e8)<\/em> but it can be referred to as \u5e73\u5b89\u591c(p\u00edng’\u0101n y\u00e8)<\/em>, which also translates to “Silent Night.”<\/p>\n

So what’s this got to do with apples?<\/p>\n

\u5e73 is a homonym for \u82f9(p\u00edng),<\/em> short for \u82f9\u679c(p\u00ednggu\u01d2)<\/em>, which means “apple.” And that’s the whole story of how the humble apple became known as the “Christmas fruit”<\/strong> or \u5723\u8bde\u679c(sh\u00e8ngd\u00e0n gu\u01d2)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Of course, apples aren’t the only presents you can give.<\/p>\n

When it comes to giving an appropriate Christmas gift, don’t expect to be given a wishlist. Apples are a fairly recent trend<\/a> for Christmas gifts, along with treating friends to dinner or a round of drinks during karaoke. Since Christmas isn’t such a strong cultural holiday, you can easily spread Christmas cheer by taking some friends out for a fun Christmas Eve. But if it’s a tangible present you want to give, see this video<\/a> for some further insight into shopping for Christmas gifts in China.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Greet others by singing some carols in Mandarin<\/h3>\n

If you love to sing and happen to be in a major Chinese city, you could easily take part in the culture of carol singing around Christmas. While it may not be as common in China as it is in the West, foreign families often organize door-to-door caroling within expatriate communities. Some foreign-run bars and restaurants also host bar-hopping caroling events during the Christmas season.<\/p>\n

If you can’t participate in caroling, you can always stick to the karaoke lounge with your Chinese friends.<\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

“\u53ee\u53ee\u5f53” (d\u012bng d\u012bng d\u0101ng)<\/em> or “Jingle Bells” is a pretty well-known carol in China. Other carols may not be as familiar to Chinese listeners, but it couldn’t hurt to learn as many as you can: Here’s a Chinese version of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

Put up a “Tree of Light.”<\/h3>\n

While trees in commercial areas are normally decorated with ornaments and lights as they would out West, Christmas trees in Chinese households are decorated a little differently.<\/p>\n

Instead of ornaments, they’ll adorn their tree with paper flowers and red paper lanterns. In place of tinsel, they’ll wrap the tree with red paper chains as a symbol of happiness. They also refer to their Christmas tree as \u5723\u8bde\u8282\u5149\u6811(sh\u00e8ng d\u00e0n ji\u00e9 gu\u0101ng sh\u00f9)<\/em> or “Tree of Light.”<\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

Red is a significant color in China. Not only is it the color of the flag, but it also represents beauty, good fortune, joy and vitality. The color is a symbol of nationalism and a bright future, which is why Chinese Christmas decorations are mostly red.<\/p>\n

Decorate the house with red paper lanterns.<\/h3>\n

Tinsel, lights, wreaths and snow spray are just some of the many Western-style Christmas decorations you can buy in grocery and department stores in China these days. But if you want to put a Chinese spin on your Christmas decor, consider hanging red paper lanterns, or \u7ea2\u7eb8\u706f\u7b3c(h\u00f3ng zh\u01d0 d\u0113ngl\u00f3ng)<\/em>. Even though they’re available in stores, you can also make origami paper lanterns<\/a> if you love arts and crafts!<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

The red lantern is one of the most prominent emblems in Chinese culture. They mostly represent life and prosperity and are hung during Chinese national holidays. In the wintertime, they also become prayers for light, sun and warmth to return after the winter.<\/p>\n

Have a saxophone-playing Santa in your living room.<\/h3>\n

Years and years ago, a Chinese commercial campaign showcased a romantic Santa Claus playing the saxophone, and since then, the saxophone playing \u5723\u8bde\u8001\u4eba has just stuck.<\/p>\n

Whether it be little Santa figurines or large displays in malls and other establishments, Santa is usually depicted with a saxophone, though in the last few years, he’s also been associated with instruments like the French horn, trumpet and violin.<\/p>\n

A Chinese Christmas Tradition Tidbit<\/h4>\n

Chinese netizens have joked that Chinese Santa should be playing a culturally relevant instrument, such as the \u4e8c\u80e1(\u00e8rh\u00fa)<\/em> or “erhu.” This historically significant instrument is vertical, two-stringed and bowed, and is thought to date back t the Tang dynasty.<\/p>\n

Why Should I Learn Different Chinese Christmas Greetings?<\/h2>\n