24th December is a silent night, and it is the day that many of us are planning on how to spend the Christmas the next day. To Chinese this is different, because there is actually no official holiday except for a few places, to them it is a normal day. There are about 1 million Christians in China, this is a very small number compared to a total population of about 1.4 billion. Businessmen and entrepreneurs have found an opportunity to use this day and its popularity to promote their products disregarding whether you are a Christian or not. To make this day special, Chinese celebrate it with a twist to make it interesting.
Foreigners living in China gets surprised when their hosts advices them to send an apple to someone you care about on this day, because they don't know why. After asking we got an answer, that to Chinese it is a good thing to eat an Apple(which is Ping guo in Chinese) during Silent Night(which is Ping An Ye in Chinese). "Ping" is present on both words, Apple and Silent Night, so they goes together. "Ping An" means "Peace" and "ye" means "Night", so when you eat an Apple during that day, you will be at peace and happy.
We wish you a merry Christmas.
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