Christmas tree in China mall removed after 'present' ornaments ransacked by shoppers

A Christmas tree in the mainland Chinese city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province, had to be removed after it was damaged amidst a rush by shoppers to pluck decorations resembling presents from the tree.

Occurred during a gift distribution event

According to mainland Chinese media, the incident happened on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2024 at a shopping mall.

At about 8pm, a Christmas gift distribution event was taking place in front of the mall's Christmas tree, with a large crowd present.

At one point, a shopper rushed over the barricade that had been placed around the Christmas tree to snatch the "presents" that were on the Christmas tree.

This prompted other shoppers to rush forward and do the same, despite warnings by the staff that they could get electrocuted by the decorations.

At one point, the Christmas tree appeared to be leaning over as shoppers were seen climbing the tree in an attempt to grab the decorations.

Many of the shoppers then threw the boxes on the floor upon discovering that there were no gifts inside, according to the South China Morning Post.

Bottom half of the tree plucked clean

Photos of the aftermath on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu showed that the bottom half of the tree had been plucked clean of the present-like ornaments, leaving behind only torn fabric.

Many Chinese netizens expressed embarrassment at what had happened, with at least one netizen calling for such acts to be punished by the law.

The tree was subsequently removed on Christmas Day so as not to affect the activities and gift distribution for the day.

Top left photo via Weibo, centre and right photo via 华利依晟/Xiaohongshu