You may be surprised how much popularity Christmas has gained in East China's Jiangsu province. Although the Christian holiday is not usually celebrated in China, more and more people in Jiangsu would like to see it as the start of the holiday season and to take part in colorful celebration activities.

In Suzhou, the Christmas celebration expanded from the land to under the water. Some 100 owners of Harley-Davidson motorcycles gathered together on Dec 24 and rode in Santa costumes. The red fleet surprised passersby along their 30-kilometer-long trip.

The cutest Santa Clause, however, seemed to have appeared in Nantong in southeast Jiangsu on Dec 22. Children from a local kindergarten gave an adorable performance in Santa costumes. The audience was amused by their clumsy but lovely dancing.

In addition to Santa Clause and gifts, the gingerbread house is considered another symbol of Christmas. Li Long, a pastry cook at the Shangri-La Hotel in Changzhou, made more than 20 gingerbread houses for Christmas. "The production of gingerbread houses isn't as easy as it looks," said Li, "to make a good gingerbread house, you need to contain childishness."