[See & Be Seen] A Merry Christmas from Everyone at CNS and SHD

At the end of every year, there's a moment when much of the expat community exhales and remembers rest, tradition, and deliberate joy. Deadlines slow, inboxes thin, and even Shanghai, restless as it is, seems to pause just long enough to take stock. This is one of those moments. And from everyone at City News Service and Shanghai Daily, we wanted to share it with you.

For City News Service, this Christmas marks just two years of telling stories in a city that never lacks them. Two years is young...young enough to still feel surprised, still learning when to listen more than speak. For Shanghai Daily, this year marks something rarer: a full 25 years. A quarter century of chronicling Shanghai's changes, contradictions, and constant reinvention. Together, we sit at an intersection of new energy and long memory, and we're grateful for that balance.

Shanghai has always been a city shaped by arrivals. There's an old saying, often shared among longtime residents and newcomers alike: "Shanghai doesn't ask where you're from – it asks what you'll make of yourself here." For the city's international community, that sentiment still rings true. Many of us are far from where we started, far from family, recreating traditions in apartments, restaurants, offices, and borrowed spaces. And somehow, that makes the holiday feel more intentional.

Christmas in Shanghai has never been just one thing. In the early 20th century, it appeared quietly in churches, clubs, and homes of foreign residents; later, it blended into the city's own rhythms–less about snow and silence, more about light, warmth, and gathering. And a special shout-out to whoever is in charge of the city's decorations. Shanghai has never looked so beautiful in winter time. Some of us might wish for friends and family from back home to take a stroll with us down Nanjing Road, or in Xintiandi.

See & Be Seen

The photos that follow are simple: colleagues, laughter, shared food, familiar faces at the end of a long year. But they represent something we value deeply–the human side of work, the friendships behind the bylines, and the belief that journalism is, at its core, a collective effort. Many of our foreign colleagues are abroad with family (and your's truly is out sick!), but their greetings come as well, though from afar.

Wherever you are reading this from, thank you for being part of our journey. We wish you a thoughtful Christmas, a gentle year-end, and a hopeful beginning to what comes next.