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'Kitsch' Christmas banned at Chinese university

The Modern College of Northwest University in Xi'an required students to attend three hours of propaganda films promoting Chinese culture on Christmas.

By Ben Hooper
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XIAN, China, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- A northwest China university banned students from celebrating the "kitsch" holiday of Christmas, instead forcing them to watch propaganda films.

The Modern College of Northwest University in Xian locked down its campus during Thursday's holiday and strung up banners reading, "Strive to be outstanding sons and daughters of China, oppose kitsch western holidays," and "Resist the expansion of western culture."

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Students said they were threatened with punishment if they failed to attend a three-hour marathon of propaganda films promoting traditional Chinese culture.

A blog connected to one of the school's official Communist party committees called on students to focus on traditional Chinese holidays, such as the Spring Festival.

"In recent years, more and more Chinese have started to attach importance to western festivals," the blog post read. "In their eyes, the west is more developed than China, and they think that their holidays are more elegant than ours, even that western festivals are very fashionable and China's traditional festivals are old fashioned."

Professor Zhang Ming of Renmin University of China said the school's actions may have been illegal. He said universities do not have the right to stop students from celebrating Christmas or any other holidays.

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