Refer China: $5。9B Decorations ： How China Defined What Christmas Looks Like

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Take a look at the number in this photo, and you'll understand just how "Chinese" Christmas has become today.

In the 2024 global rankings for Christmas decoration exports, among the three Asian countries on the top 10 list, China alone exported $5.9 billion worth. Compare that to fourth-place Cambodia at $100 million and third-place India at $117 million.

In other words, China's export volume of Christmas decorations is more than half the combined total of the second through tenth places.

This isn't just a statistic.

It means the Christmas tree, the lights on the windows, the centerpiece on the dining table—nine out of ten times, they come from China.

The overwhelming majority of decorations that families worldwide see flooding stores at Christmas are "Made in China."

Westerners buying Christmas decorations is like Chinese people stocking up for Lunar New Year, but their "New Year goods" rely on China's supply.

Stores would become quiet. Families would face a choice: decorate with nothing or buy locally produced, high-priced items. With cheap decorations gone, the very "look" of Christmas would change.

The impact on average families would be the greatest.

What used to cost a small amount to deck out an entire home might now see a single premium light strand costing significantly more. Middle-class families might grit their teeth, but for children in low-income households, the festive cheer of Christmas would plummet.

The younger generation, accustomed to the brilliantly lit, product-packed Christmas portrayed on social media, would find a sudden return to a simpler version like the holiday had "lost its soul."

But this is more than just a supply chain issue.

The very form of the modern Christmas has been shaped by "Made in China."

Before industrialization, Christmas was a holiday for the elite and the church. The truly mass-scale, commercialized, visually dense Christmas we know today was made possible by Chinese manufacturing.

Cheap lights, abundant ornaments, and rapidly updated themes created a "spectacle" accessible to ordinary people.

Chinese manufacturers are not passive suppliers.

They constantly observe and lead the market. What kind of decorations do consumers want? They innovate accordingly. What styles trend on social media? They produce them.

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LED lights became more energy-efficient, so they promoted LED decor.
Young people favor minimalist styles, so they designed minimalist Christmas goods.

This is a two-way co-evolution.

As Christmas grows more commercial, "Made in China" provides ever more abundant choices, which in turn further defines "what a modern Christmas should look like."

It's not that Yiwu, the commodity capital, passively meets Western Christmas demand; it is actively shaping modern Christmas itself.

A core feature of the Western Christmas is that it must be "popular, accessible, and lively." If only the wealthy could experience it, Christmas would lose its modern soul.

This is precisely the strength of "Made in China."

Economies of scale, low cost, and rapid iteration have made Christmas decorations accessible to everyone. An average working-class family can also turn their house into a "Christmas village."

This equal, universal Christmas experience is something only "Made in China" can provide on this scale.

Without "Made in China," Christmas wouldn't disappear. But the modern version of it—product-filled, brilliantly lit, a mass celebration—likely would. What might return is a simpler, more divided, less accessible Christmas.

The $5.9 billion from "Made in China" appears as just a trade figure. But what it sustains is, in fact, the modern festive imagination of millions of families. This is not merely economic dependence; it's cultural dependence. "Made in China" has become the cultural infrastructure of modern Christmas.

Source:

Editor: Crystal H

Refer China

$5。9B Decorations ： How China Defined What Christmas Looks Like

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