A flurry of excitement passed through the nation's columnists and bloggers
over the past few days.
Anticipation of Valentine's Day-style romantic festivity at the traditional
Qixi Festival, followed by rather lacklustre observance on the day, has been the
hot topic.
Both folklorists and florists called for Qixi the seventh day of the seventh
month in the lunar calendar to be officially named China's "Lovers' Day."
And the cry was particularly loud this year, as this is a lunar leap year
with the intercalary month falling on the seventh month, meaning there are two
Qixi days.
But yesterday florists said they were disappointed so many less young people
had bought roses than on Valentine's Day.
Columnists and bloggers quickly stepped forward to offer their interpretation
of the phenomenon. Quite a number sounded cynical, jeering at the idea Qixi
could be transformed into a Chinese version of Valentine's Day, and claiming the
festival is a far cry from its Western counterpart.
One columnist said Qixi is only a mythological legend about the celestial
Queen Mother's suppression of the love between the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid
and thus has nothing to do with ordinary people's romances. Valentine's Day, on
the contrary, originates from a true story.
The Western lovers' day, the writer said, symbolizes young people's "brave
pursuit of romantic freedom," and typifies the Western value of personal human
rights. That is the reason, he claimed, why Valentine's Day has won the hearts
of today's Chinese youths, who merely regard the Cowherd and Weaver Maid's
romance with reverence.
This is sheer nonsense.
Today's Chinese youths favour Valentine's Day rather than Qixi simply because
they have been bombarded by the commercial fanfare the Western festival brings
for the past decade or so, while Qixi had seldom been mentioned until recently.
I respect freedom of love and I do not generally object to Western values of
human rights. But I do not subscribe to the theory that today's young Chinese
like Valentine's Day because they appreciate the humanitarian ethics involved in
the festival. They know little about Qixi simply because they have never been
told about it by their parents, who have been too busy with the "modernization"
drive to give enough attention to our cultural heritage.
Neglect of education in cultural traditions has lasted for dozens of years in
China. It was completely suspended during the "cultural revolution" from 1966 to
1978. And, although revived briefly in the early 1980s, it soon waned amid a
nation-wide pursuit of material wealth, before almost being swept into oblivion
by the arrival of Western culture, bringing McDonald's, the NBA, MTV and
Disneyland-style carnivals.
In recent years, people of insight in educational and cultural circles have
called for the whole nation to note the weakening of the sense of cultural
tradition among youngsters.
Scholars of Chinese culture have initiated a campaign, supported by
commercial circles, to protect our national heritage. The calling for Qixi to be
recognised as China's Lovers' Day is part of this effort.
It may sound a little bit artificial or arbitrary, but it is definitely not
an unfounded idea. The Qixi myth is unquestionably a love story and does reflect
Chinese people's yearning for faithful and lasting love. There are countless
stories of young men and women expressing their love privately on the eve of
Qixi in ancient times. It is not in the least "inferior" to Valentine's Day in
the sense of innocent love.
Whether Qixi will be observed by young Chinese as a Lovers' Day will only be
determined by time.
But there is nothing wrong with the idea protecting of our culture and
heritage is not foolish and should not be ridiculed.
Email: liushinan@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 08/02/2006 page4)
