Houston Community News >> Chinese Scholars Call for Mother's Day With Chinese Characteristics
5/12/2007 JINAN (Xinhua) -- As
many people around the world celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday, a Chinese scholar
and member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) has
made it his mission to create China's own Mother's Day festival.
Li Hanqiu, a memeber of the CPPCC National Committee, believes that the second
day of the fourth Lunar month, which falls on May 18 this year, should be the
day when mothers are honored in China as it coincides with the birth date of
fourth century BC Confucian philosopher Mencius, whose mother is regarded as
being synonymous with maternal devotion and love.
Li has called for the traditional western gift of carnations to be changed to
day lilies, which in ancient times were planted by mothers in their courtyards
as a sign of sorrow at their children leaving home.
"In a country with a deeply-rooted tradition of filial piety, we should have our
own occasion for people to express love for mothers according to Chinese
customs," Li said.
Li has founded a non-government organization called the "Chinese Mothers'
Festival Promotion Society" with the support of around 100 Confucian scholars
and lecturers of moral ethics.
The society plans to celebrate its first Chinese Mother Festival on May 18 in
Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province.
"This is our first year and the celebration will only be held in Zoucheng (city
in Shandong Province) and Shijiazhuang, but we believe it will be accepted by
more Chinese people at home and abroad if it is conducive to revitalizing our
traditional culture of piety," said Li.
In a collaboration between Li and the local government, work has begun on a
theme park of maternity culture in Zoucheng, the birthplace of Mencius.
"Even though the western Mother's Day is becoming more and more popular
worldwide, countries like France, Egypt, South Korea, Portugal and Indonesia are
all celebrating their own mother's days in their own ways," said Lu Zonghai,
secretary of Li's society.
"In China, the Mother Festival should have deeper cultural meanings, rather than
just being about business," Lu said, "which is why we want it on a different
day."
According to Li, the society plans to bombard a million students in 100 cities
with pamphlets advocating filial piety over the next few years.
"To ensure the festival is entrenched in Chinese society may bean arduous
process, but it is definitely worth trying, because it is an attempt to
revitalize our traditional culture that is being left behind," said Chen Xuxia,
an academician with Hebei Academy of Social Sciences.
(Contributed by Xinhua)