Chinese university bans Christmas celebrations

A Chinese university has reportedly banned Christmas celebrations on its campus to protect its students from the influence of western culture about which many, it thinks, are "blindly excited".

The varsity in Shenyang in China's northeast province Liaoning has issued a notice to its students, asking them not to organise any Western religious festivals, such as Christmas, on the campus.

The diktat by the Communist Youth League of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, the youth division of the Communist Party of China, said the move is intended to help the younger generation "build cultural confidence".

According to the Global Times, the notice issued on Monday said that the students' union, student associations and youth league branches will be banned from holding any activities centred on Western religious holidays.

The League reasoned that some youth are "blindly excited about western holidays", especially Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and there is a need to "resist the corrosion by Western religious culture".

This is not the first time in China that an educational institute has forbidden Christmas celebrations.

There is a prevalent view in China that western or, for that matter, any foreign culture may corrode the ancient Chinese culture. - IANS