Christmas is widely celebrated by China’s estimated 100 million Christians. In years past, neighborhoods have put up Christmas trees and other signs of the season. Shopping centers have put up Christmas decorations. And the internet was full of Christmas greetings.
On the day itself, public celebrations were held in the streets of towns and cities throughout the country, including on the campuses of state-run universities. And, of course, churches—even underground Catholic and evangelical churches—were free to hold Christmas services.
But not this year.
The CCP issued new regulations two years ago which forbid any such public religious expressions around the holiday season and it has now gotten serious about enforcing them. The Chinese police are cracking down on anyone who dares to celebrate Christmas outside of their home or the close confines of their state-approved church.
This year underground churches across the country were forced to cancel Christmas services after they were told that they were absolutely forbidden to publicly celebrate the holiday in any way.
China’s university students were warned against holding “Christmas parties,” while the internet was scrubbed of references to Christmas itself. Northwest University in Shaanxi Province went even farther, taking roll call every evening to ensure that students did not leave the campus to celebrate on Dec. 24 and 25.
Even shopping centers, which put up Christmas decorations not for religious reasons but to boost sales, were told to take them down.
On Christmas day itself, the police in several Chinese cities busied themselves arresting anyone who appeared to be celebrating the holiday by wearing Christmas apparel. Wearing a Santa costume or wearing an elf hat was enough to get you arrested in China’s largest city, Shanghai.
Only the officially registered churches of the Catholic Patriotic Association and its Protestant equivalent were allowed to hold Christmas eve and Christmas day services. But even these churches must operate under strict Party supervision. The priests and pastors of these state-sanctioned churches are not free to preach the fullness of the Catholic faith, but must subordinate Christian beliefs to communist ideology in their sermons.
Priests and pastors have also been told that only regular church attendees should attend the Christmas services and that others should not be invited. Party officials in some areas have even required that churches submit lists of attendees in advance, as well as telling parents not to bring children to such services.
It’s really no surprise that the officially atheistic CCP does not like Christmas, or that it discourages its celebration.
But it may surprise readers to learn that it is attempting to replace the celebration of the birth of Christ with a “celebration” of the birth of Mao Zedong.
They want to substitute the so-called “savior of China” for the Savior of the World.
The longtime leader of the CCP was born the day after Christmas, on December 26, 1893, but he was no savior.
Mao went on to become the greatest mass murderer in human history.
