CHINA-CHRISTMAS-RETAIL-RELIGION-CHRISTIANITY

A salesman dressed as Santa Claus waits for customers with an alpaca during a sales promotion in Beijing on December 25, 2014. Christmas — once banned in China — has exploded in the atheist nation in recent years, with marketers using everything from saxophones and smurfs to steam trains to get shoppers to open their wallets. AFP PHOTO / WANG ZHAO