December 24th is Christmas Eve, or Holy Night for Christians and in Beijing every Protestant church prepares to celebrate this important evening with prayers, carols and sermons.

Located in Qinghe Town in the northern suburbs of Beijing, the Yanjing Theological Seminary is the only Protestant educational institution in Northern China. This lends a unique academic atmosphere to Christmas Eve.

"We will be staging a show at our seminary on the Christmas Eve," said Pastor Qi Tieying, also the Vice President of the seminary during a previous telephone interview with Beijing Review earlier in December. "The two hour show will be made up of two parts-a religious section and entertaining performances of drama, dance and choral music. All our registered students will take part," said Pastor Qi.

We were left wondering what type of Christmas show students could put on?

The answer was half unveiled during their rehearsal in the seminary's chapel at 3.30 p.m., just three hours before the show. From male students who were carefully adjusting sound and lighting to female choir members practicing hard their vocals, it became obvious everyone involved was all deeply committed to doing their best.

According to Pastor Qi, in order to improve and encourage the students skills, the seminary invited some professionals from the Central Drama College and China Music College two years ago to help with training in drama, singing and dancing.

The success of last year's Christmas Eve debut is a good example for this; and their levels will be better each year for sure.

Besides students, an orchestra made up of ten wind instrument musicians from Beijing-based Guo Lian Orchestra, were also on hand to help. Conductor Ren Huijie, whose parents are Christians, told Beijing Review that the Christian musicians in his orchestra wished to help the seminary and the church as much as possible. They were offering their services free of charge and wanted to share in the joy of this special holy evening.

The chapel was decorated in dazzling style. Pink balloons and plastic white snow festooned the walls and marble pillars; a 2-metre-high Christmas tree creatively hung with small gifts, silver and red balls on the stage; and a kaleidoscope of colored lights on the stage turned the entire area into a wonderland and drew favorable comments from people as they entered.

Before taking the stage students had all gathered in prayer and then moved onto the stage. The 32 male and female choir members in purple gowns entered holding red burning candles, as more than 700 attendants rose to sing Silent Night, Holy Night with the choir and Pastor Qi. All their candles were placed on a huge cross candlestick, at the front of the stage, signaling the first part of the Holy Night's performance-Candlelight Worship. Paper music sheets gave way to modern technology as a projected power point display allowed worshippers and visitors the chance to read the words of the scriptures and the hymns. According to Pastor Qi, this saved wasting paper, allowed people to interact and gave those unfamiliar with the words of the sermons and the hymns the opportunity to feel included. When Pastor Qi's sermon ended with a request to "Shake the hand of the stranger next to you and wish them Merry Christmas," it brought a wave of great warmth to the congregation. This signaled the end of part one of the celebration.