< In One Of China's Rare Catholic Communities, Christmas Is A Colorful Mix Of Customs

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Now to a remote area of Yunnan province in southwestern China, where a rare congregation of Catholic Tibetans lives. NPR's Emily Feng spent Christmas with them.

EMILY FENG, BYLINE: It's Christmas Eve in Cizhong and the church is bathed in a golden light. People are already streaming in and the pews are mostly full. The women sit on the left in their bright pink turbans and their silk brocades. And the men sit on the right in their cowboy hats and shearlings. We're in Cizhong Church in China's Yunnan province, about 20 miles from Tibet and Myanmar. At Christmas Eve Mass, neighbors wave at each other. Heavily swaddled children run up and down the church aisle.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in non-English language).

FENG: They're singing Gregorian chants, but with a twist. My companion in the pews explains.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).

FENG: He tells me their prayers in their Bible were originally written in Latin, but were translated into Tibetan and written down in Chinese characters, a mix of three cultures. So is the church, which looks like a traditional French cathedral with a Buddhist temple roof. Inside, painted Buddhist lotuses snake around brass reliefs of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. When the priest enters, a storm of firecrackers erupts.

(SOUNDBITE OF FIRECRACKERS POPPING)

FENG: This part of Yunnan province is mainly Tibetan and Naxi, another ethnic minority. They're largely Buddhist. But more than 150 years ago, French missionaries settled upriver. In 1905, Buddhist Tibetans attacked, driving the survivors down river here to Cizhong. Researcher Matthew Chitwood says Cizhong's remote location helped the Catholic community maintain its faith after the communists came to power in 1949.

MATTHEW CHITWOOD: They further withdrew to avoid influences of the state. That withdrawn nature allows them to maintain that identity and that culture.

FENG: The Cizhong Church was once defaced, and Catholics here went half a century without a resident priest. Now, the Chinese government sees Cizhong's religious history as an asset. Here's Brendan Galipeau, an anthropologist at National Tsinghua University in Taiwan.

BRENDAN GALIPEAU: Having this community of Catholics has allowed the government to promote the community as a tourist spot.

FENG: While the government may want to draw tourists, its poverty alleviation program has made Cizhong much less picturesque. Rice paddies are now covered over with cement. Plumes of dust rise from a sand quarry. A power station and dam churn out electricity. Ninety-year-old Xiao Jieyi, a Tibetan Catholic who speaks French, has seen a lot of history. He sings a carol for us.

XIAO JIEYI: (Singing in non-English language).

FENG: Xiao planned to be a priest. Those plans were dashed during the political turmoil of the '60s. And while he did sing to us, he could not talk. He was interrupted by a phone call from police. Orders from above, Xiao said. The same thing happens when I try to meet Yao Fei, Cizhong's priest. Government minders aggressively questioned anyone NPR spoke to.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in non-English language).

FENG: But Christmas Day is allowed to continue. It ends with hours of Tibetan music and dancing. Worshipers pile large birthday cakes in front of the altar.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).

FENG: The cakes are for Jesus. It's his birthday, explains one of the women who's dancing around them. Later, the cakes, as well as pots of rice liquor infused with bits of chicken, are distributed to anyone who comes by the church, including many Buddhist relatives who help with the preparations. Christmas is spent with family, they say, no matter their faith. Emily Feng, NPR News, Cizhong, China.

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