Two interesting sources to answer that question:
Work on Boxing Day? Confusticate and bebother these dwarves! This Chinese preschool rockstar is going to work loaded…
The Chinese teachers took these on my phone during class when we were practicing for the preschool’s New Year’s show (I’m a preschool rock star in China). Ages 4-5 and 5-6, each video is a different class. (China users will need a VPN to see them, except for this one that made it to Youku.)
To really get a feel for the actual experience, turn your speakers all the way up and watch these videos on repeat. For three hours straight. Every morning. For a month.
We Wish You a Merry Chinese Preschool Christmas
We Wish You a Merry Chinese Preschool Christmas AGAIN
We Wish You a Merry Chinese Preschool Christmas YET AGAIN
My five-year-old niece in Canada started preschool two days a week when she was four. What’s often translated as “preschool” (幼儿园) in China starts when kids are two or three years old, all day five days a week. And if there’s a part-time foreign monkey teacher native-English-speaking Caucasian, then it’s a “bilingual” preschool, and there better be an English part to the New Year’s show. Which is why crowds of Chinese three-year-olds yell We Wish You a Merry Christmas at me most mornings in December. :)
Merry Christmas from Qingdao! 圣诞快乐！
Some related things:
Pronounced: yǐ mǎ nèi lì
Means: Immanuel, “God with us” (神与我们同在).
It’s common for this to be displayed in big letters on the walls of Chinese churches. It’s a transliteration of the ancient Hebrew, so like the English transliteration it means nothing to people who don’t already have some background understanding. Example: 马太福音 1.23.
The images in this gallery come from two sources: the website of contemporary Chinese artist Dr. He Qi, and a collection of pre-Liberation Chinese scroll paintings by various Chinese artists at the USF Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History (thanks to pcNielsen of The Aesthetic Elevator for the link). Both sources have lots of interesting non-Christmas stuff as well, like the Chinese boy Jesus practicing Chinese characters, and Guanyin-esque cloud-floating Marys.
Related:
I just happened to find these while google image searching. If anyone knows anything about the artist, or where to view any others in the series, please let me know.
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And just for kicks, from MandMX.com:
Related:
Pronounced: jiàng shēng
Literally:
to drop/fall/come down/descend + to be born
Means:
birth; to be born; incarnated — of a saviour or religious leader. How the birth of Jesus is referred to in Chinese (耶稣降生).
For more Christmas stuff, click the Christmas topic.