BEIJING, Dec. 24  -- Christmas celebrations are nothing new to most big cities in China. But this year the holiday spirit has trickled into a small community in the country's remote west.

In a village tucked away on a plateau in the suburbs of Golmud, Qinghai Province, 30-year-old Tibetan Tsering Amon is busy rehearsing a dance performance for a show on the evening on Christmas Day.

"Over the past couple of days, we have used our spare time running rehearsals again and again," she said. .

Ten years ago, Tsering Amon and 127 households of herdsmen moved to the city suburb at an altitude of 3,000 meters from the source of the Yangtze River, the country's largest.

Knowledge about the western holiday spread to the Tibetan village through children who learned about it in school and people who work in big cities. Now, most young villagers enjoy the jubilant atmosphere of the western holiday.

"Since Christmas celebrations began in 2009, people in the neighborhood have enjoyed it very much. This year, the celebration will last about two hours, including singing, dancing and mini-dramas," said Tsering Amon.

"We have bought costumes, Christmas hats, masks and presents, such as apples for the seniors and pencils and erasers for the school children," she said.

"Now Christmas is mainly a holiday for the young, the elderly have no affection for it," said Cering Chagdoi, the village's Party chief. "We have only lived in the city for 10 years," he said, explaining the generation gap.

As Christmas arrives, people with smartphones are sending blessings with popular instant messaging service WeChat, wishing friends and family "merry Christmas," "good luck," and good health.

Many young people in big cities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, such as Lhasa and Xining, also enjoy the western holiday, although they don't celebrate in the same way as traditional holidays. Instead, they take advantage of the occasion to meet and dine with friends, offering gifts to friends and family.

But in some remote tourist destinations, Christmas is only a holiday for tourists and a few young locals.

In the county seat of Kangding in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in Sichuan Province, Rigar has put up Christmas decoration in his coffee house.

"Many locals do not even know the holiday,"Rigar said. "Only some tourists and a few young locals spend the holiday, seeing it as another occasion for romance and festivities," he said.