Debra Li

THE most important traditional festival for Chinese people, the Spring Festival is a time for family reunions, feasts, galas and visiting friends and relatives. It has also become a subject of contraversy in recent years.

Two years ago, Gao Youpeng, a folklore expert in Henan, wrote a “Declaration to Safeguard the Spring Festival,” noting that the holiday should be preserved in a world where globalization is gradually gaining ground.

On Jan. 15 this year, five mainland scholars issued a joint statement titled “Declaration of the New Spring Festival Culture,” which quickly became a topic of much discussion on the Internet.

The five, headed by Pei Yu, executive president of the Web site zhrnet.com, published the statement on the site, criticizing the Spring Festival Gala as a “propaganda event” that “obscures the original meaning of the festival.”

“The Spring Festival is the natural result of farming civilization, when our ancestors celebrated the coming of a new year. It is a time they used ceremonies to pay respect to their ancestors, express hopes for their descendants and have fun at feast and galas. The festival, which existed long before the teachings of Confucius spread far and wide in China, was the free expression of people’s joy,” the statement said.

It criticized the Spring Festival Gala, a CCTV program which has been broadcast on every lunar New Year’s Eve since 1983, as being too “political.” “People need to have their individual ways to celebrate the festival,” Pei said.

While many may disagree with the statement, it has raised the question: What cultural traditions can we revive and how do we celebrate the festival in a more meaningful way?

Liu Yang, associate professor of Shenzhen University, said he strongly disagreed with the five scholars. “They can do whatever they want to celebrate the special occasion, but it’s not in their hands to decide what other people prefer. It’s easy to destroy but much more difficult to build. They need to ask what they can find to substitute for the gala before throwing it away. It’s more important to meditate what traditions we can revive for the festival,” he said

He added that he believed the fast economic growth in China has led to people becoming apathetic about the once-special day. “In the past, people looked forward to the day and counted down on the occasion a long time before, when they could enjoy a few days off and eat pork stew. As people today dine out in fine restaurants and spend vacations at resorts more often, the occasion has lost some of its appeal,” he said.

Liu said people should discover new aspects of the festival and revive some valuable traditional customs, “otherwise, people might neglect the day totally in the future.”

Song Ding, a scholar with the Shenzhen comprehensive development research institute, said China was undergoing a period of transition with old traditions dying out and new ones yet to be established.

“The old traditions belong to rural areas and do not quite fit in urban life,” he said.

In the past, people would personally visit neighbors, share snacks and wish each other well on the occation of Spring Festival. Nowadays people send e-mails, text messages and call their friends to express festive goodwill. And many young people even choose to take advantage of the Spring Festival “golden week” to travel abroad instead of going back home for family reunions.

Song said it would take time for new customs to come into existance, and so for the time being it was more important for people to be in a festive mood, instead of following fixed rituals.

Hu Yeqiu, a researcher of cultural trends, proposed that the occasion should be celebrated in new ways, apart from being a time to revive some traditions.

“While the Spring Festival Gala has been criticized each year, I think its cancellation would draw more criticism. Traditions like putting up spring rolls on the door and steaming rice cakes for the occasion cannot be revived by calls or orders. The practical way is to do feasibility researches first and try some of the customs first in small groups before promoting them among the bigger population,” Hu said.

He also proposed ceremonies like the Times Square countdown on New Year’s Eve in New York City. “Going to concerts and painting exhibitions are a nice way to spend the Spring Festival,” he said.

Some Shenzhen residents agree with Hu. Wu Haibin, a white-collar worker, said he hoped the government would arrange for more cultural events during the holiday. “I’ll be very happy to join others in outdoor movie shows or park galas. We Chinese like to be in the crowd, especially on such a festive occasion,” he said.