Chinese fed up with festivals: Survey

Many Chinese are tired of festivals, which are bombarded with shopping spree, dining parties and red envelopes nowadays, according to a survey by China Youth Daily last week.

Of the 2,003 people surveyed, 63 percent said they were bored of festivals, while 64 percent said they would like to arrange more relaxing gatherings and set aside time for rest after a busy holiday.

Just over half of the respondents were born in the 1980s, 20 percent each in the 1990s and 1970s.

The survey revealed that dining with friends and shopping sprees heavily promoted by malls are widely accepted as the top two routine activities during festivals, with 73 percent and 64 percent of the respondents choosing them respectively.

About 57 percent of respondents also named sending red envelopes as a routine activity during festivals, while 45 percent used group SMS blessings.

It's these routine activities during the holidays that make 63 percent feel bored, though 20.7 percent disagreed.

"I enjoy shopping when the shopping malls tout big discounts during festivals, however, I feel bored if I just spend the festival days on shopping," said 28-year-old Li Xiaolu, who works at an information technology firm in Beijing.

"Cultural functions of the festivals have been gradually weakened with the social development," Zhou Yaping, an associate professor with Philosophy and Sociology School of Lanzhou University, said.

"Instead of traditional values and spiritual pursuits, people pay more attention to material demands. It seems as if people nowadays cannot find other adequate and memorable ways to spend the festivals instead of shopping, parties and sending envelopes."

When asked about the shopping-filled festivals, Zhou said: "The trend reflects the fact that most Chinese have no idea how to enjoy meaningful festivals, and the traffic jams during each festival also means many people give up the idea of going out. Besides, the burgeoning online shopping and attractive promotional activities at shopping malls during festivals both made the festivals more like shopping festivals."

Zhou added, this kind of shopping festival lessens the festivals' meaning and would not help younger generation inherit traditional Chinese culture.

Zhou advised people to try some new activities instead of shopping during festival days to relax their body and mind during their down time.

Almost 60 percent of respondents said they felt festival fatigue because of too many social activities during festival days.

"People who are busy on work days are used to strengthening relations with friends and relatives during festivals, which in turn makes people feel fatigue, let alone the shopping activities," said Li Hongzhen, who works at an administrative organ in North China's Hebei province.

Traffic jams, painstaking festival rituals, big spending and boring festival customs were respectively chosen by 52.0 percent, 46.4 percent, 42.8 percent and 32.3 percent of the respondents as reasons for festival fatigue.

However, it's noticeable that the most popular festivals are traditional festivals including Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Day, which were approved of by 72 percent of respondents. International days, western holidays and new holidays including Singles' Day ranked second, third and fourth respectively.