On Wednesday evening, as Beijing streets were choked while the city's residents rushed home to celebrate Christmas Eve, about 20,000 students of the Modern College of Northwest University in Xi'an were kept on campus to watch a film on Chinese traditional culture from 6 to 9 pm.

The college, in the capital of Shaanxi province, banned students, most of whom are in their early 20s, from celebrating Christmas.

The school's micro blog said that the cultural elements behind traditional Chinese festivals are vanishing because people are more concerned about Western ones.