Tolkien's holiday tradition

The Lord of the Rings author penned letters to his children under the name Father Christmas. Now they have been translated into Chinese. Xing Yi reports.

Most Chinese know J.R.R. Tolkien as the author of the Lord of the Rings who created the fantasy world of Middle Earth and all the epic quests of the hobbits. However, few know that Tolkien had a holiday tradition of writing letters to his four children under the name of Father Christmas.

A book containing those letters, Letters from Father Christmas, was recently translated into Chinese. The book contains letters that Tolkien wrote to his children every year between 1920 and 1943.