350 Christmas Tree

Jesse Edbrooke from Transition talks with ShaoLan about the tradition of putting a Christmas tree up in your house when Christmas is near. In western countries, it’s common to put real mini trees in the house, but in Asia, where that kind of pine tree is not so common, the plastic trees are more common. As well as teaching the Chinese for “Christmas Tree,” ShaoLan teaches some extra words to describe the decorations that go on a Christmas tree and shares what her family tradition is when it comes to decorating the tree in their house!

The Chinese word for “Christmas tree” is 聖誕樹/圣诞树. The first character 聖/圣 means “saint” or “sacred,” the second character 誕/诞 means “to be born,” therefore these two characters together show that “the saint is born” meaning “Christmas.” The final character 樹/树 simply means “tree” so all together, 聖誕樹/圣诞树 is “Christmas Tree.”