Press Release: Finland’s Official Santa Claus Visits Beijing Children’s Home Bringing Christmas Cheer for the Season

(Beijing, December 7, 2017) – Known as the official home of Santa Claus, Finland marked the 100th Anniversary of the country’s independence in 2017 around the theme of “Together”. On December 6, 2017, the Independence Day of Finland, Visit Finland brought Santa Claus to Beijing to visit GuangAi Children’s House located in Shunyi District for a very special pre-Christmas visit. He brought gifts of Finnish picture books to the more than 80 orphaned and left-behind children in the home.

In an effort to support this campaign, Visit Finland also initiated an online donation entitled “Extending Warmth Together with Santa Claus” to raise funds for GuangAi’s project of changing winter heating fuel from coal to natural gas, in partnership with the Embassy of Finland in Beijing and Finland’s leading children’s outdoor clothing brand – Reima. More than 100 warm-hearted people joined the charity initiative and over 10,000 Yuan has been donated within two weeks.

Finland’s 100^th Anniversary of Independence

Finland declared its independence on December 6, 1917. Over the past 100 years, Finns has been making concerted efforts to build the country and enabled her to occupy leading positions worldwide in many fields. For example, Finland is one of the world’s happiest countries, the world’s most innovative countries, as well as the world’s best countries for gender equality. Finland has one of the leading education systems in the world and ranked the Best Place to be a Mother. The history of 100 years of independence embodies the values which Finns has been attaching great importance to: democracy, education, equality and freedom of expression.

Mr. Pekka Timonen, Secretary-General for Centennial Celebrations, Prime Minister’s Office of Finland, said, “Finland’s centennial is a very unique and big occasion to be celebrated and one of the most important commemorations our generation can witness. Finnish people joined hands with friends from over 100 countries to celebrate this anniversary in a special and open-armed way, marking 2017 as a new chapter in the history of our country.”

When mentioning the theme “Together” of Finland’s centennial celebrations, Mr. Jyri Lintunen, Press & Culture Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in Beijing, China, said, “We expect to share the theme in China as well. Besides gifts, hope our Santa Claus can bring happiness, blessings and inspirations to these children.”  

Visit Santa’s hometown in Rovaniemi

Santa Claus’ original home lies in the mysterious Korvatunturi (“Ear Fell”) in Finnish Lapland. Since the exact location is a secret only known to a chosen few, he decided to establish an office in Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, in 1985. Rovaniemi received the status of the Official Hometown of Santa Claus in 2010.

Open each day of the year, children and adults can visit Santa’s office and enjoy a private chat with him. Visitors can also take photos with Santa, or mail a favorite post card sealed with Arctic Pole stamp to their family and friends.

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