Chen Xiaochun

654789759@qq.com

A Christmas party and an Art Sprout Exhibition, organized by the Cultural and Sports Center of Dalang Subdistrict Office and Handshake 302, an independent art space curated by a core group of five people, will be held at the P+V Gallery from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Christmas Day.

Christmas, though as important in the West as Chinese New Year is in China, may be unimportant to most Shenzhen people. Rather, it has become an excuse for lovers to buy each other presents.

This Sunday’s event will be different, since it emphasizes two Christmas values: generosity and remembrance, according to P+V Gallery director, Mary Ann O’Donnell.

On the one hand, Christmas is a time for giving gifts to each other. The students joining the event have made Christmas gifts for their parents, and they are also helping to prepare for the party, O’Donnell said.

On the other hand, Christmas is a time for remembering who we are, and what we’ve accomplished. Thus, the gathering also commemorates the educational work of the missionaries, whose faith made it possible for them to come to Langkou in Dalang Subdistrict over 100 years ago to contribute to the Pious Virgins Longheu Girls’ School.

An exhibition of children’s artwork will also be held to display how much they have learned over the past six months.

Everyone is welcome to stop by to join the celebration and learn about the Art Sprout program, which is free for children aged 8 and over.

The Art Sprout program is held at the P+V Gallery, a restored historic church and school in Dalang, an industrial area located in Longhua. Established by the Basel Mission in 1891, the school was known as the Pious Virgins Longheu Girls’ School, hence the name of the gallery — the P+V.

The Pious Virgins Longheu Girls’ School was once a missionary school only for girls. Later, it began also enrolling boys. In 2007, it was listed as a district-level cultural relic protection site. Although the school is now no longer in operation, the P+V Gallery, which is not affiliated with any religion, carries on the mission of passing down culture and history.

Since June 18 this year, the P+V Gallery has served as a museum and the location of the Arts Sprout arts enrichment program for the children of migrant workers in Dalang.

The gallery offers classes every Sunday for children and there are a variety of classes that last for one to two months.