Why do people in China give apples on Christmas Eve?
Updated 14 October 2026
In China, Christmas Eve is called 平安夜 (píng'ān yè), the night of peace, and the word for apple, 蘋果 (píngguǒ), begins with the same sound. So on Christmas Eve, friends give each other apples as a wish for a safe and peaceful year, often wrapped in boxes, ribbon or colored cellophane.
A custom built on one syllable
The Confucius Institute in the UK explains the wordplay: 平安 (píng'ān) means safe or peaceful, and the similar sound of 蘋果 ties the fruit to the night. Sellers took the hint and began calling the fruit 平安果 (píng'ān guǒ), "peace fruit", for the season.
It is young people who give them, mostly to close friends. The Christian Science Monitor described "peace apples" in 2024 as the finest fruit, boxed and tied with ribbon, and reported that a crafted apple can cost six times the usual price. The Confucius Institute adds a teenagers' rule of thumb: the more wrapping paper, the closer the friendship.
Sources do not agree on when it started, but all of them describe it as a recent custom.
Why it travels well
You do not need to speak Chinese for the gift to work. If you have a Chinese friend, colleague, client or in-law, an apple on Christmas Eve shows that you know their version of the holiday. A card can explain the pun to everyone else at the table.
Fresh apples last a week or two, while an apple cup gets used every morning.
Apple pieces for Christmas Eve
- Apple-on-the-Rim Cup: a small cream cup with one red apple painted by hand and a tiny clay apple on the rim.
- Apple Lid Mug: a cream mug with a glossy red apple for a lid, in a red checked gift box.
- Black Cup with Apple Lid: a tall glossy black cup with a deep red apple lid.
- Orchard for Two: two apple cups with their saucers, one painted red and one raised in green.
- Apple Paper Cups: cups shaped like crumpled paper cups and printed with apples, each in its own color box.