Beijing struggles to get to grips with the true spirit of Christmas

The first snow in Beijing this year fell silently on the spruce trees along the path leading to St Saviour Church, giving an ethereal serenity to the walled compound in the hustle and bustle of the city.

French Jesuits constructed the Gothic-style building now known as the North Church in the 17th century. Inside some 400 years later, Joseph crosses himself as he prepares to go back to his native Shandong province for Christmas.

'I grew up in a village where most of the families were Catholic,' he recalls. 'My first memory of Christmas was a day when neighbours came to our house to pray for my grandmother, who had been very ill. She sat up in her sick bed and broke into a smile. That night she died.'

That was in the 1970s before the churches reopened after being shutdown during the Cultural Revolution. Since then, Christmas is a time for remembrance and renewal for Joseph. Now 31 and a teacher, he attends Mass regularly.

There are 40,000 to 50,000 Catholics in the Beijing area. Many, like Joseph, are from old Catholic families, but a growing number of new converts are college students, who are changing the demographic profile of the congregation. People under 40 make up 40 per cent of the churchgoers.

Across town in the Church of Immaculate Conception, known as the South Church, the atmosphere is convivial for the coming holiday. As the oldest church in Beijing, it blends Chinese and Italian architectural features with courtyards and thick-walled brick houses around them. On Sundays, it is standing room only with Chinese and foreign worshippers.