Festival buying spree shows emptiness of spirit

AN APPLE, whose Chinese name pingguo sounds close to the word for Christmas Eve, was reportedly sold at 176 yuan ($27) on the Internet during Christmas, with the extra benefits including a fine wooden box for the apple and handmade flowers and chocolate. Costly as it is, the package has been purchased by many Christmas celebrators in the country. A comment on rednet.cn questions such festival-oriented spending and attributes it to the spiritual emptiness of a number of Chinese people:

True, one is entitled to celebrate the Christmas carnival and other sorts of festivals, without being morally judged. But it is a totally different case if Christmas is merely used as a stunt for commercial promotions that may lead to a wave of irrational purchases.

In fact, Christmas, as a part of the Christian religion, is meant to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, although for ordinary Westerners, the traditional holiday is now more about giving and receiving gifts, family reunions, and feasting.