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The Chinese public has backed a suggestion by a scholar to have the Spring Festival listed as a world intangible cultural heritage as part of efforts to prevent the festive atmosphere from fizzling out.

 

 

Chen Jing, a folklore expert with Nanjing University in east China's Jiangsu Province, has urged the government to start the application as China increasingly exposes itself to foreign cultures.

 

"By applying for the heritage, we can investigate, record and publicize festival-related folk arts across the country," he said.

 

Chen's suggestion was backed by thousands of netizens, who agreed that the glamour of traditional festivals has been undermined and needs reviving.

 

More than 70 percent of netizens think it necessary to apply for a world cultural heritage listing, according to a survey recently conducted by sina.com, one of the largest websites in China.

 

In research conducted this January, Chen interviewed via email and telephone publicity and tourism officials in more than a dozen provinces, receiving hundreds of reports on the current situation of folk custom during the Spring Festival.

 

Chen's survey showed the glamour of the Lunar New Year in large cities is fading and some young people are ignorant of new year rituals and celebrations.

 

"Globalization and urbanization have been eating away at traditional Chinese rituals and celebrations. The Chinese, especially those in large cities, are discarding the cultural meaning and spiritual values of the Spring Festival," he said.

 

"I am really worried that to many young people Spring Festival is just for fun and no different from foreign holidays."

 

The Spring Festival, the first day of the Lunar New Year, is the most important holiday in China. Traditionally, families stay together making dumplings, setting off fireworks, pasting red papers with auspicious words or patterns on walls, doors and windows, giving gifts of money to children and visiting relatives or friends.

 

But in some cites, fireworks have been replaced by electronic ones due to safety and environmental concerns. Some people prefer buying frozen dumplings instead of making them with their families on New Year's Eve.

 

The festival, which has its origins in agricultural civilization, has been widely accepted by the Chinese for thousands of years.

 

"No matter how the Chinese spend the holiday, they still regard it as the most important moment in the year. Besides, the festive atmosphere is still very much alive in rural areas," said Song Zhaolin, chief advisor of China Folklore Society.

 

Chen said that applying for a world cultural heritage listing is not a goal in itself.

 

"The most important thing is to restore the public's pleasure in spending the festival in traditional ways and thereby preserve China's cultural identity," Chen said.

 

According to UNESCO, "intangible cultural heritage" refers to practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.

 

The Chinese State Council published last year its first 528 items of state-level intangible heritages, including the Spring Festival, Peking Opera, acupuncture, the Legend of Madame White Snake and Shaolin Kungfu.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)