Real and fake Christmas trees fly off shelves in Beijing

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While Christmas isn't a traditional holiday in China, many expats as well as locals are getting into a festive spirit. If you want to avoid the crowds at the Swedish mega store IKEA, there are a few places around town where you can pick up either an artificial plastic tree or the real deal.

As CCTVNEWS correspondent Martina Fuchs reports, real and artificial Christmas trees are flying off the shelves in Beijing. More and more Beijingers believe all you need for Christmas is a tree, whether real or fake.

Foreigners and, increasingly, locals are heading to the Liangma Flower Market at this time of the year to shop for trees. Tree merchants run the show all the way from the entrance. All shapes and sizes are available here.

A kid rides a sleigh pulled by a reindeer at a park in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province on December 24. /CFP Photo

Zhang Song, tree vendor at Liangma Flower Market, said: "Our main clients are Chinese companies and foreigners. But the competition is heating up, a lot of people are now also buying from the outskirts of Beijing."

Their impressive inventories contain Chinese and American conifer trees. Chinese trees start as low as 130 yuan (18 US dollars) for a one-meter spruce and max out at 1,500 yuan (216 US dollars) for a four-meter-tall one. Delivery is free.

If you're after a plastic version to put on your office desk, there is plenty of choice for smaller and already decorated trees.

German exotic Christmas decoration on a street in Changde, Hunan Province. /CFP Photo

Mo Hongliang, tree vendor at Liangma Flower Market, said: "I am selling this type of small, plastic tree but also taller ones, a lot of different types. There are real and fake ones. My customers are expats, they come from the US, England, France and Germany."

And of course, a Christmas tree is not complete without the decorations. Small baubles sold here start at 1 yuan (0.15 US dollars) a piece, and climb up to 25 yuan (3.60 US dollars) for larger ones. Snow globes are also in high demand.

German exotic Christmas decoration on a street in Changde, Hunan Province. /CFP Photo

Christmas and New Year is now a peak shopping season in China, just like in the West. Department stores and shopping malls launch promotions and prolong business hours, starting in the middle of November. The shopping frenzy has also moved online.

Antonio Wang, Associate Vice President of International Data Corporation (IDC), an American market research firm, said: "A lot of Chinese are now taking Christmas as an e-commerce shopping opportunity. On the one hand, they buy computers, mobile phones, a lot of hot products. But on the other hand, they also buy a lot of traditional products such as Christmas trees and lights."

Hotels, malls, restaurants and banks across Beijing are also twinkling with Christmas displays and lights. Although Christmas will likely be gray rather than white in Beijing this year because of the heavy smog, a tree might add a little color and glitter for people celebrating here.