The 2018 Zoucheng Mother's Cultural Festival will be held in the namesake city of Shandong province on May 14 to 20, aspiring to promote the establishment of Chinese Mother's Day and the cultural patrimony of Chinese maternal education.

The cultural festival, with a topic of "heritage of familial virtues and furtherance of epochal ethos", will have nine thematic activities including the opening ceremony, a commemorative ceremony for Mencius and his mother, the interpretation ceremony for the Doctrine of the Mean, and a short video competition on "Maternal Love, from Mencius' Birthplace to the World", as well as nine related activities including a lecture on Mencius' mother and a jaunt to the philosopher's birthplace for media cultural exchange.

Mencius, besides his renown as a thinker, is noted for his mother, a paragon of motherhood in China endorsed by time-honored and favored tales.

Chinese Mother's Day, celebrated on Mencius' birthday (the second day of the fourth lunar month), was first advocated by Chinese and overseas experts gathered in Zoucheng on December 13th, 2006.

As the venue for the festival, Zoucheng is appealing to Chinese people to celebrate the festival by construing and promoting the pedagogical spirit of Mencius' mother from many perspectives.

The festival is meant to symbolize an important instrument for the inheritance of traditional virtues and values and an expression of gratitude for maternal love in a Chinese way.

Du Qingjie, mayor of Zoucheng, stated that the city is to fulfill its onus as the birthplace of Mencius by highlighting the influence of his thought and the culture of maternal education with a Confucian air.

According to Du, this will be the 11th time Zoucheng has successfully hosted the cultural festival, and that the city and the festival will always advance maternal education as a cultural heritage, emphasizing the value of family education and the excellence of traditional culture.