Today is a big day for Li Shuang and her family. As Christians, they look at Christmas as one of the year's best occasions to practice their beliefs.

As testament, Li let her daughter skip kindergarten stay at home. Lu Jia, only 4-years-old, is wearing her Christmas costume. She's very proud of it. 

She's also anxious for Santa's presents...

Li, aged 30, works as a consultant in China's capital, Beijing. She was born into a Christian family and has thus been a Christian since birth.

SOUNDBITE:　LI　SHUANG,　BEJING　RESIDENT
"Christmas is a big holiday for Christians, it represents hope, it represents Jesus, and it represents salvation. On Christmas Eve, we usually go to Church, and prepare for the dinner at night. Then we attend Christmas Eve Mass until the early morning of Dec 25. It is a long process, and we will hold a party after the mass."

Being a Christian in China, Li’s daily life is no different than others at her age. She enjoys surfing the net, and shares her daughter’s pictures at her blog.

But today, there is a lot for her to prepare for. She's making a Christmas Eve dinner for her family.

Unlike Li, the festival may be different to those who do not have Christian background.

Jiang Yiran, a 25-year-old Beijing resident, has her own plans to celebrate the festival.

SOUNDBITE:　JIANG　YIRAN,　BEIJING　CITIZEN
"I take Christmas as an opportunity to meet friends and have fun. We will have dinner together and go to the KTV, or kareoke, to relax ourselves. I don’t think we will do anything special in the morning, because everyone has his own business, so the real fun will start since the early evening."

Like Jiang, instead of spending Christmas as a religious event, most young people in China consider Christmas simply as an excuse to celebrate for fun and relaxation.

According to a survey posted on the china.com.cn,　intro　of　website, 90% of the young people in major Chinese cities said they have plans for Christmas. 88% of them choose to go out to have some fun with families and friends, and 9% will go to church. But only 3% said they would stay at home on Christmas Eve.

While people are making plans for Christmas, recreation places such as restaurants, KTVs and shopping malls are also busy preparing to let Christmas celebrators flock in.

In a popular shopping mall in downtown Beijing, Christmas decorations have began weeks ago! And, as Christmas falls on Saturday this year, the mall is packed with customers.

SOUNDBITE:　GIFTSHOP　SALESWOMEN
"Our usual daily revenue is about 6,000 yuan (about 905 U.S. dollars), and on the weekend, our revenue is expected to rise to 18,000 yuan (about 2714 U.S. dollars). Most customers come to buy Christmas gifts or accessories that they are going to wear to parties."

SOUNDBITE:　GIFTSHOP　SALESWOMEN
"We have large discounts during Christmas. But to make it more special, we have free candies, and, the mall won’t set closing time on Christmas Eve, so the customers can take their time."

Different from shopping malls, where customers can go anytime they want, KTVs need reservations, in case there are not enough rooms for customers.

A popular KTV in downtown Beijing is also decorated with silver and gold plastic bells to welcome the Christmas customer.
 
SOUNDBITE:　KTV　MANAGER
"Our revenues stay at the peak from Christmas Eve to the New Year holiday every year. We have to ask people to make reservations because so many people want to have fun here but we cannot take them all."

As for the Christmas decorations in the hall and the Christmas carols, the manager says they did that because of Christmas, the atmosphere means a lot to the customers.

SOUNDBITE:　KTV　MANAGER
"I don’t believe in Christianity, and I don’t think many people in China do. We celebrate it as an occasion to go out meet friends and have fun. And that’s why recreation places like ours become so popular this time every year."

Although the day is important for business, it's not as important for everyone else in the country. Not all Chinese celebrate or recognize Christmas.

Take Wang Shuguo, a university professor, for example. He doesn’t celebrate Christmas but enjoys celebrating Spring Festival, which is Chinese’ traditional festival for family reunion.

SOUNDBITE:　WANG　SHUGUO,　UNIVERSITY　PROFESSOR
"Christmas for me means two days, one's 24th of December, another is 25th of December. I don't even expect anything on the boxing day, cause as a man, I seldom do any shopping. But for me, for people like me, in this age group as I am now, we seldom do celebrate on the Christmas day. As festival is comparetively, more important for us, because that means a family reunion. That's a several thousand years tradition."

But, Wang said he indeed had the experience of going to church on Christmas Eve.

SOUNDBITE:　WANG　SHUGUO,　UNIVERSITY　PROFESSOR
"Roughly 15 years ago, a date celebrated close Christmas day with some friends from the UK, USA and the Korea, they took me to a restaurant and then to the church in Xidan, it's a Christian church. At the time the reason why I chose to go there was  that first of all it was exotic, all the things from another country, all the from other countries, then you can know friends from other countries as well. secondly, going there on the Christmas day, going to a Christmas party means feast, that i can enjoy, a feast really means a lot 15 years ago, and thirdly,it's a very good opportunity for a very young man to know a lot friends."

Besides that he no longer needs to take a feast in church, Wang said his curiosity of it has also gone.

SOUNDBITE:　WANG　SHUGUO,　UNIVERSITY　PROFESSOR
"But now, i seldom celebrate that, because all the three attractive reasons, have become (void)  for me now,  because i can know a lot of new friends from work, as you can see, i got hundreds of business cards almost everyday, so i don't need Christmas day to offer me the opportunity to make friends. and as our living standards has been greatly improved, so everyday is like a feast for me. i don't need a special day to get me the feast, to enjoy the feast. also after i took the job in international office in the university, I almost travelled every countries in the world. so nothing now is exotics to me, i don't need to take the Christmas as an opportunity to experience the so-called exotic things."

As darkness falls over Beijing, downtown lights turn on. Tonight, Christmas lights are joining in. The taste of Christmas seems all over streets.

Like many young Chinese, Jiang and her friend arrived at a popular KTV in downtown Beijing. Tonight they'll be singing popular radio hits like Backstreet boys, Linkin Park, and even Chinese opera. There will be eating and drinking, and a festive atmosphere.

As they check their coats for a night of singing, Li Shuang and Lu Jia are entering a more sober occasion - Christmas Eve mass.

For Lu Jia and the other kids, Christmas Eve may serve more as a chance to gather and celebrate than to worship.

Over the past few years, Christmas Eve mass has become ever more popular.

As you can see from the line, this year is no exception.

About 6 million baptized Christians　celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas. The number is steadily rising.

Caroling, candle lighting, all ceremony services are the same with traditional Christmas Eve mass in the world. No matter devout Christians or non-Christian visitors, all pray for the peace and love for the coming new year.

And back at KTV, the Christmas ball is still ringing loud. Singing, dancing, and a lot of fun.

20 years ago in China, Christmas celebration was exclusive to staffs with foreign enterprises. Now such holidays, including Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and Halloween, have become chic, both for the country’s commercial potential and young people who regard them as important and fashionable days to celebrate.

SOUNDBITE:　ZHAO　LIANG,　FATHER
"The number of people here increases every year. Christmas in China is not a conflict with Chinese local culture. In fact, it is melting with Chinese culture. In my dream, maybe in 10 years, Christmas in China will be celebrated more passionate than westerners, and then the westerners will see, wow, Christmas in China can be as good as we have. Chinese love festivals, and we know how to celebrate festivals well. I believe Christmas in China will become a much more passionate celebration."

Christmas in China is no simple picture. Some pray for hope and renewal, some just look at it as a chance to get down and have fun. Businesses look at the day with eager eyes, to swing into profit. And there are those who favor Spring Festival as the day to truly celebrate with family and friends. The picture is much more diverse and colorful.

China is undergoing vast social and economic development, some parts of Christmas have remained in place, though so much around it is changing with time and place. Given another decade of fast paced development, how do you think Christmas will appear?