Merry Christmas in English, Joyeux Noel in French, Froehliche Weihnachten in German and Sheng dan kuai le in Chinese. No matter how you say it, Christmas is truly here.

 

This joyful season is now in full swing around the world and has increasingly become better known in China's mainland in recent years with the influx of expats in Shanghai and other cities around the country.

 

Over the past decade, the Christian holiday has become more popular in Shanghai, says Wang Xiaomei, a local pearl merchant.

 

"In China, the big cities like Shanghai and Beijing celebrate Christmas. However, it is more of a celebration for the foreigners who live here."

 

As Shanghai grows, it is becoming increasingly cosmopolitan and is paying more attention to foreign festivals and holidays. You just have to take a walk around Xintiandi and the place is awash with Christmas trees and glittering decorations.

 

The large shopping centers and hotels have also started to cater for the festive celebrations, putting decorations up and holding Christmas activities such as traditional Christmas dinner and Christmas parties.

 

Wang says: "Young Chinese people are starting to celebrate Christmas. But I think this is because they think it is fashionable and that they are being modern, rather than celebrating the birth of Christ."

 

"I have never celebrated the Christmas holiday. The only impact it has on me is that I have more orders this time of year to ship pearls to Europe for gifts. On Christmas Day I will probably be working as usual and looking forward to Chinese New Year which is a Chinese traditional holiday."

 

Christmas traditions and customs have become increasingly commercialized, yet, the Old World rituals make Christmas a new alacrity every year, influencing cultures that traditionally would not celebrate the holiday.

 

"There are many Christmas services in Shanghai churches where if people are religious they can go to. But people tend to forget the true meaning behind Christmas," says Matt Clarke, a producer for Bright Shadow films in Shanghai.

 

"The young generation of Chinese are the same. They celebrate it like many in England or America, send cards and give gifts without really knowing what it is about, making it a big excuse for a party."

 

Englishman Clarke moved to Shanghai two years ago said the city is becoming a lot more Westernized and Christmas was becoming more and more popular each year. "I can even see the change from the short time I have been here."

 

Manjari Meng, an assistant for the same film company, says: "I am a typical Shanghainese, I have never really celebrated Christmas. Now, as many of my friends are from France and England, I have started to acknowledge it a lot more."

 

"Maybe on December 25 I will go to a friend's house and have dinner or go shopping. If finances permit, I may buy some gifts for them or even take a small trip out of the city," she says.

 

If you have the funds you can have a very traditional Christmas with turkey and all the trimmings in Shanghai at one of the big hotels, says Clarke. "But to me, Christmas is not about the food or the decoration it's about being with friends and family."

 

"I will be having a big party and in the interests of staying festive we will dress up one of our unsuspecting Chinese friends as Father Christmas and he can dole out the gifts we have bought for each other. There will be loads of mulled wine and Christmas songs. And we will all raise a glass to Christmas in Shanghai."

 

(Shanghai Daily December 8, 2006)