A university in China banned Christmas, describing it as a kitsch foreign celebration that does not benefit the country’s own traditions. On December 25, 2014, Modern College of Northwest University in Xian also went on to show its students propaganda films, after putting up banners that urged the youth to strive towards becoming outstanding sons and daughter of China by boycotting tastelessness Western holidays and resisting the expansion of Western culture.
Students were told they would be punished if they did not attend a compulsory three-hour-long screening of different propaganda films, which reportedly included one on Confucius as well. During the screening, teachers stood at the door ensuring no students leave.
“There's nothing we can do about it, we can't escape,” a student was quoted as saying.
The official microblog of the university’s Communist Party committee ordered students not to fawn on foreigners and pay more attention to their own holidays like the Spring Festival.
“In recent years, more and more Chinese have started to attach importance to Western festivals,” it wrote. “In their eyes, the West is more developed than China, and they think that their holidays are more elegant than ours, even that Western festivals are very fashionable and China's traditional festivals are old fashioned.”
Even though Christmas is not a traditional festival in China, which is an officially atheist state, the festival is surely gaining popularity among its residents, particularly those living in more metropolitan areas where people go out to celebrate, exchange gifts and even decorate their homes. Western culture, especially in the form of American pop culture, is very popular among China’s youth, something that becomes a problem from time to time with the country’s generally orthodox ruling Communist Party.
Wenzhou, which is a city in the affluent eastern province of Zhejiang, has already forbidden all Christmas celebrations in schools and colleges and inspectors come in regularly to make sure the rules are being enforced by local administration. These “rules” are meant to ensure China counteracts the nation’s obsession with Western holidays, even more so when it concerns the popularity of traditional Chinese festivals.
Photo Credits: Times Live
