Christmas in China
The Mandarin words and phrases for Christmas in China: 圣诞快乐, the Christmas Eve apple, booking a Christmas meal, and New Year's Day. On the mainland Christmas is not a public holiday and most people work as usual. It is a night out instead: shopping centres put up trees, restaurants offer set menus, and couples and friends go out on Christmas Eve. The big family holiday is Spring Festival, which falls on 6 February in 2027. Hong Kong and Macau are different: both have public holidays for Christmas. This guide is about the mainland. Checked October 2026.
Also: Halloween in China
On the blog: How Christmas is celebrated in China, and what to say
Words you will see
Most of the vocabulary of Christmas in Chinese is a translation, built from parts you may know: 圣 holy, 诞 birth, 节 festival. 平安夜 is the one with its own life, because it gave rise to the apple custom in the next section.
Things to say
苹果, apple, starts with píng, the same sound as 平 in 平安夜, peaceful night. So an apple on Christmas Eve wishes someone peace and safety. Shops sell them wrapped in coloured paper or boxed, at far more than an apple usually costs. It is a mainland custom, not one from abroad.
Booking a Christmas meal
Christmas Eve is one of the busiest nights of the year for restaurants in Chinese cities, especially for couples, and set menus sell out. 订满了, fully booked, is the phrase to expect if you leave it late. 位 is the polite measure word for people from the restaurant guide.
Signs and offers
Shopping centres use Christmas as the start of a long run of sales that continues through New Year's Day to Spring Festival. Most signs are offers, and 正常营业, open as usual, is common on 25 December itself, because on the mainland it is a working day.
The daily course builds these phrases into real conversation, one short lesson a day. Days 1 to 7 need no account, and a free account opens the rest of the first month.
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