Seasonal humbug appears not to be centrally organised but a spreading resistance to foreign festivals by local authorities
Even the giant teddy bear at the mall entrance was not spared, said Ma Jun, who works at a tutoring company in the building.
“Everything is gone and cleaned,” she said.
Christmas continues to be a shopping festival across most of China, with huge trees adorning shopping malls in Shanghai and Beijing, but a growing emphasis on traditional culture by the ruling Communist Party and the systematic suppression of religion under President Xi Jinping are imperilling Santa Claus’ position.
At least four Chinese cities and one county have ordered Christmas decorations banned this year, according to official notices and interviews. Students, teachers and parents from 10 schools around China said Christmas celebrations had been curtailed.
“The ongoing local reaction against Christmas is part of the wider sentiment since Xi took power,” said Zi Yang, a China expert at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
Xi was trying to broaden the appeal of the party by casting it as a crusader for Chinese tradition in a fast-changing world, he said. “Therefore, foreign cultural elements such as Christmas are placed on the chopping block.”
The seasonal humbug follows similar outbreaks of anti-Christmas rhetoric in 2014 and 2017. It appears not to be centrally organised, but rather a spreading resistance to foreign festivals by local authorities seeking to align themselves with the growing tide of cultural nationalism.
The squeeze on Christmas is an example of how efforts to “normalise” thinking bleed into the everyday lives of many Chinese. That push exploded into view this year through re-education camps for Uygur Muslims and a crackdown on Christian churches that has continued with force in recent weeks.
In Nanyang, about 950km (600 miles) west of Shanghai, government officials stopped by the office and shopping complex on December 16 to say that Christmas decorations would have to come down, said Ma, the tutoring company employee.
An official from the city’s urban management bureau hung up when asked for comment.
Nine hours by car south, Hengyang, a city in Hunan province, said in a December 19 notice posted on an official government social media account that anyone caught holding Christmas sales or celebrations that blocked the streets would be punished.
