海角大神

鈥⒙燭rump budget rejected:聽The House聽rejects President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 new plan聽to fund federal operations and suspend the debt ceiling, a day before a possible government shutdown.
鈥⒙燬tarbucks strike:聽The union representing more than 10,000 Starbucks baristas says members will strike in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle for five days starting Dec. 20, citing issues over wages, staffing, and schedules.
鈥⒙燘iden cancels student debt:聽The Biden administration cancels $4.28 billion in student debt for nearly 55,000 public service workers. The action brings the total public-service student loans forgiven to about $78 billion for nearly 1.1 million workers.
鈥� Egg prices skyrocket: Wholesale egg prices in the United States聽are shattering records as an outbreak of bird flu cuts supplies while shoppers buy more to bake during the holiday season.

Read these news briefs.

For many children, Christmas morning is all about the presents. But as our writers unwrap their favorite holiday memories from childhood, something else comes into focus: the giver.

Syrians want to learn what happened to those who were jailed or forcibly disappeared as they seek to recover from decades of a brutal dictatorship. For many, the first, difficult stop is a notorious prison.

Confirming a historically diverse slate of judges could be one of President Biden鈥檚 strongest legacies, but zero-sum politics continues to dominate judicial selection.

As the generations gather for the holidays, communication could be a challenge. We鈥檝e got you covered with glossaries for Generation Z and millennial slang.

The city of Berlin pays half the cost if you repair electronics rather than throw them away. That sounds better than it worked out in practice for our reporter.

The filmmakers of 鈥淎 Complete Unknown鈥� were faced with a daunting task, our critic writes: How do you get behind the mask of a willfully enigmatic artist like Bob Dylan?

Anyone visiting China during Christmas 鈥� the world鈥檚 most widely celebrated religious holiday 鈥� should be prepared to find that the commemoration of Christ鈥檚 coming has been imported as a secular, commercialized 鈥渇estival.鈥�

In public displays, Santa 鈥� called Old Christmas Person 鈥� usually holds a saxophone. He is single. Instead of elves, he has sisters. Christmas trees, mostly fake and mostly set up by retailers, are known as 鈥渢rees of light.鈥� Don鈥檛 bother looking for a manger scene. If you visit a mall decked out in red-and-green decorations, you may tire of 鈥淛ingle Bells鈥� being played again and again.

For the less than 5% of Chinese who are 海角大神s, there is an inkling of the day鈥檚 meaning in the Mandarin translation of Christmas: Holy Birth Festival (Sh猫ngd脿n ji茅).

Yet even that bow to God鈥檚 gift of divine truth was countered by a command last December from the ruling Communist Party that 海角大神ity in China must be 鈥渋n line with ... excellent Chinese traditions and culture.鈥� (Some Christmas displays do include dragons.)

Well, party leaders might be glad that the masses over recent decades have devised a very popular Chinese tradition. Young people now use Christmas Eve to give an unusual gift 鈥� 鈥減eace apples鈥� 鈥� to close friends.

Yes, apples. But not any apples. Only the finest kind, wrapped in boxes, adorned with ribbons, and imprinted with Christmas messages, often in gold, on the red skin. The crafted fruit can cost six times more than normal. One box even cost more than an Apple iPhone. And this in a country that produces about half of the world鈥檚 apples and consumes the most apples.

While the thought behind these fruity presents is one of charity, humility, and goodwill, the origin of 鈥減eace apples鈥� is less lofty. In Mandarin, the first syllable of the word for apple (辫铆苍驳驳耻菕) is the same as the first syllable in the word for Christmas Eve (p铆ng膩n y猫), which is translated as 鈥減eace night.鈥� In other words, a fun play on words has become a solemn and symbolic act of the Christmas spirit.

So, visitors to China at Christmas, please note: A foreign holiday meant to worship the Prince of Peace has become a paean to peace for and by the Chinese people. While their rulers claim China is a global promoter of peace 鈥� something people in Taiwan, Tibet, Vietnam, Japan, and the Philippines would dispute 鈥� real peace on Earth is being expressed heart to heart. The Chinese are giving the lowly apple its due with their generous adornment, as if it鈥檚 a gentle babe lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.

It鈥檚 not exactly apples for apples. But the truth behind Christmas can show up anywhere, even in an excellent new tradition.