深圳小朋友欢度万圣节前夕

    Zhang Qian

    zhqcindy@163.com

    Do not be surprised if you have seen more kids holding pumpkin lanterns and dressed up like little vampires knocking on your doors and asking for candies in Shenzhen compared to previous years.

    A teacher surnamed Ma from an early childhood education institution said that an increasing number of kids and school children are celebrating Halloween now.

    “Some kids were told Halloween stories by their parents, but most of them were taught about this typical Western holiday from their teachers at the schools and kindergartens,” Ma told Shenzhen Daily on October 31 afternoon.

    For Wang Jiahe, a fourth grader at Longhua Central Primary School, she said it was her fourth year dressing up and asking for candies at the residential compound where she lives.

    “My parents told me about the holiday when I was in Grade 1 and since then I have gone to collect candies with my friends on Halloween,” said Wang.

    The 9-year-old girl said that she did not dare to ask for candies her first year celebrating it, but now she was much more “skilled” at asking for candies, even saying “trick or treat” in Chinese.

    However, not everyone Wang encountered would be nice to her and her “creepy gang.” “Sometimes the adults would ask us to leave with loud voices when they opened their doors and saw us,” said Wang.

    For a younger child known as Lele who is in his first year at a kindergarten in Nanshan District, Halloween was all about getting candies.

    “I don’t real think my son understands the meaning behind Halloween,” said Guo Haiping, Lele’s mother, “We were asked by the teachers to buy him costumes for the kindergarten’s activity on Monday.”

    Dressed up in full regalia, Lele and his classmates learned to say the phrase “trick or treat” in Chinese to their teachers and some volunteers who had prepared loads of candies to distribute at the kindergarten.

    “He was very happy and proud for how much candies he got from kindergarten,” said Guo. The mother of the 3-year-old said she did not mind where the holiday was from, whether it be from the West or China.

    “I think it’s a good thing for young children to be exposed to various cultures as long as they are having fun and learning new things,” said Guo.