肾脏部位疼痛:谁有民俗文章？

Preserve Chinese Tradition

Many people worry about the decline of Chinese tradition and custom. Some even appealed to the government for help to honor our national heritage by including more traditional festivals into the official holiday system. Their proposals noted that traditional festivals such as the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Qingming Festival have helped to unite the Chinese nation for hundreds of years and rendering them legal status would be critical to better preserving cultural heritage and promoting national values.

Current customs to observe traditional Chinese festivals get more and more simplified and the old rituals are gradually gone. For some people, festivals only mean the symbolic foods, such as wrapped glutinous rice for the Dragon Boat Festival or moon cake for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The growing popularity of Western holidays in China is primarily attributed to the weakening cultural elements in China's traditional holidays. If we fail to better protect our own traditional culture, we will be culturally defeated in the coming era of globalization. We must preserve core values of our tradition and customs. For example, the two quite essential elements deemed as time-tested core values for the Chinese New Year are the norm of the reunion dinner and visiting relatives and close friends, as encapsulated in the Chinese New Year spirit, displaying the supreme importance of the family in Chinese culture, and strong sense of togetherness and cohesion.

Even though most Chinese are running after a "modern" lifestyle these days, many of them still cherish "tradition" when it comes to festivals. Banning the fireworks is controversial and I am personally for the ban. However, many people argue that setting off fireworks and firecrackers is a long-standing common practice and an integral part of Chinese New Year celebrations. To them, a Chinese New Year without fireworks is like Christmas without Christmas trees to many Westerners. They even warn that banning the fireworks will greatly curb the attractiveness of this all-important festival, as such noises are the sounds of people embracing and enjoying their ancient culture.

We must admit that the monotony of celebrating the festivals has also bored people. Our tradition should be nurtured on the three layers of culture: academic culture, popular culture and folk or traditional culture, through diversified activities.

It is great to see the youth now participate in an educational curriculum that helps them foster this traditional culture in all subjects including calligraphy, painting, opera and martial art.