Many young people in China today prefer Western holidays to traditional Chinese festivals. Christmas is now celebrated by the younger generation all over China, and it has become especially popular as a romantic holiday for boyfriends and girlfriends or young married couples. Valentines Day is also extremely popular, and even Halloween is being celebrated now.
This phenomenon has actually developed quite naturally in recent decades due to our educational systems focus on English study and therefore on English-speaking cultures. To many students, Western culture has become a symbol of self-expression and freedom from restraint. Celebrating Western holidays has become a way for students to express their love of something different from traditional Chinese culture, and to have fun together with their own generation.
In my opinion, its fine for students learning English and studying English-speaking cultures to celebrate Western holidays with their teachers and classmates. However, the way I see it, unless the young people later go abroad to live in those cultures, there is no reason for them to continue to celebrate them. We Chinese should hold on to our traditional festivals, the festivals which we have celebrated for
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