Mandarin Chinese Christmas Vocabulary

Due to the relatively small numbers of Christians in China and Taiwan (about 1 to 5% of the total population), Christmas is not a public holiday in these countries. Both Malaysia and Singapore, however, celebrate Christmas as an official holiday.

Despite it being a regular workday in Taiwan and China, many people in recent years have begun celebrating Christmas. You can see Christmas decorations in department stores and the custom of exchanging gifts is becoming more popular – especially with the younger generation. Many people also decorate their homes with Christmas trees and other Christmas ornaments.

Two Ways to Say Christmas

There are two ways to say “Christmas” in Mandarin Chinese – either ►shèng dàn jié (聖誕節 trad 圣诞节 simp) or ►yē dàn jié (耶誕節 trad 耶诞节 simp).

In each of the phrases, the final two characters (►dàn jié) are the same. ►Dàn refers to birth, and ►jié means “holiday”.

The first character of Christmas can be either ►shèng or ►yē. Shèng translates as “saint” and yē is a phonetic which is used for Jesus - ►yē sū (耶穌 trad 耶稣 simp).

Shèng dàn jié means “the birth of a saint holiday” and yē dàn jié means “the birth of Jesus holiday.”

Shèng dàn jié is the more popular of the two phrases. Whenever you see ►shèng dàn, though, remember that you can also use ►yē dàn instead.

Mandarin Chinese Christmas Vocabulary List

Audio files are marked with ►