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
bear 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.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2007)
