Qing Ming festival
The fourth of April 2009 was Qing Ming festival. In china, it is a time for people to sweep their ancestors graves to show their respect and love on this day. As the time went on, it was really a pity that many young people pay much attention to the western festivals and do not know much about their own traditional festivals, including me. All these years, china has made much effort to change this situation, such as making these festivals as public holidays. In this way, people began to trace their roots and pay more attention to their own heritages. Thinking of this situation in china, I want to introduce something about the Qing Ming festival which may make people learn more about it.
Qing Ming which is one of the twenty forth divisions of the solar year in the traditional Chinese calendar is also one of the most important traditional holidays in china. No one knows exactly when this holiday began. It was said that the origin of Qing Ming festival is Zhou dynasty. What is sure is that this festival was created by famers. People still celebrate it today which has had a history about two thousand and five hundred years. There are many customs to celebrate Qing Ming festival. In old days, people not only swept the graves but also did some athletic sports including having a picnic, playing polo planting trees kiting and swinging. People want to be healthier and get rid of the diseases through these activities.
Usually, the weather becomes wet and humid during the Qing Ming festival. It rains a lot which creates a sad atmosphere. Many poets’ famous poetries are based on this holiday to express their feelings and have been passed from generation to generation. The description is vivid and it seems that we can see and feel it whenever we read this kind of poetries. To some extent, I would rather not to translate them into English for it may affect the meaning and atmosphere of the original ones. In my opinion, even the most the skilled translator cannot understand and present it to the fullest.
Combining showing respect to the ancestors with having fun through the athletic activities, Qing Ming festival is very special among others. With more and more knowledge about it, I think that this traditional festival will become more popular and widespread not only in china but also in the world.
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People in China pay less and less attention in traditional festivals nowadays because many of them are always busy earning money. But after Chinese Duan Wu festival failed to apply for the international heritage while Korea succeeded, Chinese begin to reflect on it. Based on this, the importance of protecting is perceived by more and more people. I think every Chinese should do something traditional in these festivals instead of forgetting it drastically.
ReplyDeleteThank Xiaolei for introducing the Qing Ming in such a complete way. There is no need for me to add up, so I want to talk about the translation here. As she mentioned, it is a fact that translating the Chinese traditional poems into English may affect the meaning and atmosphere of the original ones. On this item, I completely agree with her. From my point of view, the Chinese poems have reached an unbelievable level and no other forms of literature can reach that point. In the Chinese traditional poems, you can imagine a picture or a whole story through a sentence, or even a single word. So very few foreign people can understand them, which is an obstacle for China to present her culture and literature to the world.
ReplyDeleteQingming festival has revived only when it is made to be a national holiday. What a pity that as Chinese we even pay no attention to it before. What makes me become angry is that Chinese people pay a lot of attention on western festivals such as Christmas Day and Valentine’s Day. Western people celebrate Christmas Day because they believe in god while we Chinese celebrate it just because we think it is a fashion. It is not only our country’s shame but also western countries’ shame since we celebrate their own festivals without having belief in their god. If there was a real god, he must be out of rage when he see those people who do not believe him are enjoying his death and his reliving. Let me come back to my point. A festival is a symbol of a country’s culture and history. When we have our own festival we will recall our ancestors’ significant behaviours and heritage them, putting the moral rules into our practical life. Then our festivals can be eternal and keep exerting influence on the next generation.
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