Opinion / Liu Shinan
Valentines, Qixi battle for Chinese hearts
By Liu Shinan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-02 06:21
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)
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