Passing by the square in front of a shopping center, Xia Siyu saw an enormous Christmas tree set up there. Actually, every large mall has one, but the area near this shopping center used to be the old embassy district, full of Western-style architecture, and adorned with warm lights. From a distance, it looked particularly like Europe.
Over the years, merchants have promoted a lot of Western festivals for sales, and young people have joined in the excitement. For example, Christmas in the West is akin to "Chinese New Year". Indeed, there would be worshippers attending midnight mass early in the morning, but nobody would go out giving candy—that tradition is linked to another holiday, Halloween.
More often, it's about family reunion, quite similar to "Chinese New Year's Eve" and "the first day of Chinese New Year". After mass, the family comes together. Some Western countries combine Christmas and New Year's Day into one long holiday, much like the Chinese New Year vacation.
