Chinese want more rest, tradition as family reunion festival nears

The Chinese government has disappointed many of its citizens by refusing to give a day off for the coming Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional day for family reunions that falls on a Tuesday this year.

Most people held that to revive people's respect for tradition and to reunite with family members, it is necessary to have one day of free time during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the 15th day of August in the Chinese lunar calendar.

"I want a rest on Mid-Autumn Day, so I can return my native town with my kids to celebrate with my parents," said Chen Bin, a 32-year-old Beijing resident who has failed to reunite with his parents for about 10 years. "Family reunion means great to me and my parents on that day."

According to a recent survey by the China Youth Daily, 92 percent of the 363 interviewees believe that the Mid-Autumn Day should be maintained as a traditional Chinese festival, while 86 percent want a day off to celebrate it.

The day often sparks strong feelings of homesickness among Chinese.

Chen said the traditional charm of the Mid-Autumn Festival was still very attractive to him. "We need to preserve our tradition on Mid-Autumn Festival since we have beautiful wishes and memories for luck, well-being and family reunion that passed down from our great grandfathers."

Like many other places on earth, a number of traditional customs are gradually waning in China as Western-style globalization sweeps through one of the world's oldest cultures.

Some media critics say the traditional festivals on the Chinese mainland have succumbed to commercialism and Western festivals such as Christmas and St. Valentine's Day because of inadequate protection and attention from the authorities.

Only four festivals -- New Year, the Spring Festival, May Day and National Day -- are official holidays in China, and many people say that is simply not enough to preserve the nations traditions.

Ji Baocheng, president of the People's University and an NPC deputy, made a motion at the National People's Congress (NPC) in March that the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival beadded to the official holiday list for the sake of inheriting and developing traditional Chinese culture. The motion was no successful.

Many Chinese will still hold on to the tradition of digging into moon cakes or small pastries filled with sausage, walnut meat, pine nuts, almond, red bean paste, lotus seed paste, egg yolk and fruits to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Such traditions are a bit boring for some, however, especially young people like Wang Xiao, who was born in the 1980s.

"Imported festivals like Christmas and St. Valentine's Day make me more relaxed and at ease, compared with traditional Chinese festivals," Wang said.

"What Chinese festivals have is food -- moon cakes dumplings and so on. I think it's a little boring."

Wang is right about the food-like customs. Almost all traditional Chinese festivals evolved in an old agricultural society when most Chinese struggled to have their stomach filled, and abundant food was a great luxury.

The Mid-Autumn Festival contains more than food, however. There is the lantern playing and the legendary romance between Lady Chang O, the goddess of the moon, and her husband.

Experts on folklore said giving just one day off for the Mid-Autumn Festival would not help too much to revive the traditions.

"The plight of traditional Chinese festivals is mainly due to the lack of cultural connotation and their meaning," said noted Chinese writer Feng Jicai, who also heads a committee to salvage China's folklore and cultures.

"It is an urgent task for us to rebuild our knowledge of our traditional festivals," Feng said. "They should be the celebration of the entire nation, not simply about eating and drinking."

Source: Xinhua