Chinese Christmas Carol Greetings
(Over my vacation, I'm breaking into the China Connection archive to bring back some of my more popular and holiday-oriented blogs. This one initially ran Dec. 21, 2007. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year'!)
Though language limitations might hamper our understanding of certain lyrics, music itself has a universally transcendent quality to it. Why else would millions of Americans listen to Italian operas, or millions of Chinese young people listen to pop music from South Korea and Japan?
Christmas music is no exception. Not only is it one of the most universally appealing aspects of holiday celebrations, it's also one of the oldest. Music remains just as accessible today as it was when the earliest Christians used music to commemorate Christ's birth. Now our selection is a little more extensive.
Considering the widespread popularity of Christmas in China, it's not surprising that the music has also taken off. The video above shows three unique Christmas songs.
The first singer is Shen Dongquan, a 32-year-old Christian in Beijing who says that worship is the most important way he likes to celebrate Christmas. He uses the popularity of the Christmas gift-exchange to give Bibles to his non-Christian friends.
Next, a blind choir from a church and Shenyang sing a Chinese hymn. Their songbooks are in Braille, and it's amazing to watch them read Braille and singing simultaneously. Their church only had 100 members four years ago, but has since grown to over 1,300 people.
Finally, we have an example of internationalism at its best: a group of Chinese students sing "Silent Night" at an Ikea in China. While I'm not exactly an Ikea connoisseur, I have never seen a choir dressed like angels singing while I purchase furniture, and it's really sweet to see them sing.
These are only a few examples of the multiple displays of Christmas music in China right now. During December, you're probably as likely to hear "Deck the Halls" in Shanghai as you are in Chicago.
There's little doubt that Christmas music, and Christmas traditions for that matter, have taken root in Chinese culture, but are these just signs of the popularity of Western culture, or is the popularity of Christmas linked to the growth of Christianity? Perhaps they're a bit of both.