He Xingliang

Editor's Note:

Folklorist Gao Peng recently published a "Spring Festival Declaration," proposing the protection of the Spring Festival and other elements of folk culture, which attracted a wide response. With hundreds of millions of people traveling home for the Spring Festival, does it really need defending? What has been lost, and what can be changed? People's Daily Online (PO) interviewed He Xingliang (He), director of the Department of Religious Culture of Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on these issues.

PO: Chinese attach great importance to the Spring Festival, so why do some experts still say we need to defend it?

He: There are quite a lot of controversies around the Spring Festival, and many traditions have been lost. I think that it is essential to restore and ensure the survival of traditional culture. But we are facing several problems now.

The festive atmosphere is relatively faint and there are few activities, because many related folk customs and entertainments have been lost. Lots of ceremonies no longer exist while many folk activities are no longer held.

The festival has lost significant cultural connotations. A lot of traditional objects associated with the festival have lost their origins, such as dumplings. Their symbolic functions are not explored and have fallen into a memory hole.

The other features of the festival are shrinking. In fact, the Spring Festival has many functions, including education and entertainment, which have not been fully used.

For example, spring scrolls, couplets written on paper and posted by the gate of the house, have a strong educational function. Every family in rural areas has to post spring scrolls, and the scrolls in each area have their own traditional and educational connotations.

But since there is little space to post them in the city, this tradition is being lost.

PO: What kinds of traditional culture are expressed at the Spring Festival?

He: The Spring Festival is the biggest, the most important and the most popular traditional festival in China, and an intensive showcase of Chinese traditional culture.

It reflects and contains traditional social morality. The Spring Festival provides opportunities and environment for families gathering together and expressing their love to the elderly and the young.

For example, most people who work outside their hometowns will return home, the young will tell their Spring Festival wishes to the elderly, and parents and other older relatives will give pocket money to children. It demonstrates traditional filial piety.

The Spring Festival is also a chance to display traditional art forms. During the festival, New Year paintings are posted and dragon dance performances are popular in many regions, which play an important role in keeping traditional arts alive.

It also reflects traditional religious beliefs. Chinese normally offer gifts to the ancestors and the gods on the lunar New Year's Eve, such as alcohol, tea, and sugar.

In rural areas, people used to make offerings to their ancestors before the festival. In some areas, people go to temples to do this and pray for blessings. These traditions vary from region to region in China.

PO: Why has the festival faded?

He: One reason is the impact of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), which forced the abandonment of many fine traditions.

Another factor is the impact of foreign holidays after the reform and opening-up. Foreign holidays have more attractions to youngsters.

And meanwhile, the basic foundations of the Spring Festival are gradually vanishing. The Spring Festival and its activities were linked to traditional agricultural society. In my home town, everyone buys new clothes and butchers' pigs when the new year comes. Without that, it doesn't feel like the holiday.

When we were young, we worked together with the butcher, holding the pigs' legs as he slaughtered them, and cooked tons of rice wine for every household. Everyone was tired, busy, but also joyful.

Now people no longer even make tofu but purchase it in market. And there are few houses that make rice wine. The entire environment has changed.

PO: It has been suggested that the Spring Festival doesn't need protection, but innovation. Is this true?

He: There is no contradiction between protection and innovation. We need to not only protect such tradition, but also innovate its contents and forms. Protection shows respect for tradition and the wisdom of ancestors.

During the Cultural Revolution, everyone wore the same clothes and sang the same songs with few differences. Great changes have taken place since. Just like each cultural experiences changes, the culture of the Spring Festival faces the same destiny.

At the same time, innovation is also a necessity for modernization. There's no need to keep outdated and over-superstitious things. We can preserve the essence of traditional culture and leave the dregs behind.

Culture is cumulative, not alternative. We protect the good parts and abandon the bad ones, creating new traditions on the same basis. Look at fireworks, which have become more advanced and beautiful as a result of constant innovation.

PO: What new traditions can reflect the Spring Festival today?

He: Fireworks are one example. In addition to household entertainment, I think we can hold big events with fireworks, similar to events held abroad.

Such events can be very attractive. Japan also has fireworks festivals, which are especially spectacular.

In addition, we should also have some strong symbols, just like Santa Claus and Christmas trees in the West. Pine trees are put in Japanese houses on New Year's Day as a symbol of steady growth and development year after year.

In fact, we can also get some typical symbols. I advocate the giant panda and bamboo. The giant panda is an auspicious animal which is liked by many people around the world, while bamboo is the panda's food and symbolizes growth year after year.

PO: In an era of globalization, how can we restore the confidence of Chinese national culture?

He: I think culture is relative. Both Chinese and Western cultures have their own unique value. Chinese use chopsticks while Westerners use knives and forks. Neither is more advanced than the other.

It is the same with religions. There are no ranks among Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. Equally, both the Spring Festival and Christmas have their own characteristics.

We should respect the wisdom of our ancestors and the festivals they created. We should have confidence that our holidays are not less advanced compared to Western ones. We just haven't done very well on the promotion of certain aspects.

Western festivals have changed greatly over time. For instance, Christmas trees are a 19th century German invention that spread worldwide. Through innovation and re-creation, we should have confidence that our Spring Festival is just as good as the Western Christmas.

The Spring Festival not only belongs to Chinese but also belongs to the world. In addition to China, the Koreas, Bhutan and Vietnam all celebrate the Spring Festival. In some countries with large numbers of Chinese, such as Indonesia and Singapore, the Spring Festival is a statutory holiday, as it is in places like New York.

Our festival has increasingly become international, just as people in many countries are now learning Putonghua.

Therefore, we should not neglect our own festival. With the growth and prosperity of China, our culture is constantly transmitted to the world.

We have no reason to dislike it or not take it seriously.