CHRISTMAS IN CHINA
An alpaca is used during a sales promotion in Beijing on Thursday. Christmas—once banned in China —has exploded in the atheist nation in recent years, with marketers using everything from saxophones and smurfs to steam trains to get shoppers to open their wallets. AFP PHOTO
An alpaca is used during a sales promotion in Beijing on Thursday. Christmas—once banned in China —has exploded in the atheist nation in recent years, with marketers using everything from saxophones and smurfs to steam trains to get shoppers to open their wallets. AFP PHOTO
BEIJING: A Chinese city has banned schools from holding Christmas events, state media reported on Thursday, highlighting official suspicions about the increasingly popular festival because of its foreign origins.