Encounters with family bonds and filial piety

Editor's note: Feng Jicai, a Chinese writer who has championed the protection of intangible cultural heritage of China, spoke to People's Daily Overseas Edition about the special significance Spring Festival carries for Chinese people and culture. Below are excerpts of the interview. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

Spring Festival has agrarian origins, when people's lives revolved around agricultural production following the cycle of the four seasons.

When winter receded and spring came, people dependent on a good harvest naturally wished for the new cycle to be bountiful, which became the profound spiritual driving force behind the Spring Festival celebrations.

Wishes for happiness, peace, health, reunion and prosperity still form the theme of the festival.

People express this yearning through a rich variety of folk customs, as given China's vast land and diverse local cultures, Spring Festival customs vary and have been transmitted from place to place.

Generations of Chinese people are not only inheritors but also creators of this Spring Festival culture.

Tremendous cultural creativity has been forged by an entire nation marking Spring Festival for thousands of years. It is fair to say that China's greatest tangible cultural heritage is the Great Wall, and its greatest intangible cultural heritage is Spring Festival.

It is the longest festival in China, starting with the Kitchen God Festival and ending with the Lantern Festival.

The inscription of the festival on the world cultural heritage list definitely adds splendor and diversity to human civilization, opening a broad path for fine traditional Chinese culture to go global.

More and more people around the world will now pay attention to the traditional Chinese festival, become curious about it and take part in celebrating it.

During the festival, ideals are integrated into daily life. That is what brings out the unique charm of the festival.

Besides firecrackers, couplets, the Chinese character fu, paper decorations and other special items used to celebrate Spring Festival, even dumplings — an otherwise ordinary daily food — become extraordinary during the festival.

For example, a vase ends up symbolizing peace; a goldfish wealth; a melon vine continuity; and peach longevity. This way images from daily life are used to embody ideals, and once life is infused with ideals, it shines brightly.

The traditional customs are therefore not optional. They follow rigid procedures.

The Spring Festival custom of families gathering for dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve, having dumplings and watching the Spring Festival Gala reflects the family-based togetherness that is the foundation of the Chinese nation's cohesion.

Is it difficult for non-Chinese people to understand this festival? Not at all. They just need to spend a few days celebrating this holiday along with Chinese people and take part in the activities. They will then feel the charm, vitality and warmth of the festival.

No other festival embodies so much of the Chinese people's spirit, mentality, pursuits, temperament and preferences as this festival.

The festival provides foreign friends with insights into how much importance Chinese people attach to family bonds and filial piety.

By experiencing the festival for themselves, they will understand what ideals Chinese people pursue and what morals Chinese people uphold, and get to feel the ancient, simple and beautiful values of Chinese traditional culture as they are manifest today.