A university in northeastern China has banned its students from celebrating Christmas.
The Communist Party at Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, posted an online notice that their ban was imposed to help students develop “cultural confidence,” and to protect them from the “corrosion of Western religious culture.”
The ban applies to the students’ union, all student associations, and the sub-branches of the youth league.
“In recent years,” the notice reads. “Influenced by Western culture and individual business operations, as well as erroneous public opinions expressed on the Internet, some young people are blindly excited by Western holidays, especially religious holidays like Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.”
The notice said that the students’ union, the different student associations, and the sub branches of the youth league would not be permitted to hold Christmas-related activities.
Three years ago, another university in northwestern China banned Christmas and hung banners around the campus calling on students to “oppose kitsch Western holidays” and “Resist the expansion of Western culture.”
China is officially an atheist country and Christmas is not a national holiday, but the celebration is becoming more popular among the wealthier families in China’s larger cities.
