Festival visits an excuse for family rows

A couple wait to check-in at Jinan Train Station on Feb 3. [Photo/IC]

A newly wedded couple in Jinzhai county, Anhui province, reportedly reached the brink of divorce because the husband and wife disagreed about whose family they should visit to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year. Comments:

Conflicts over where to spend Spring Festival actually reflect a clash between modern life and traditional culture in today's China, and a compromise is surely needed between the two. Filial piety should not be confined to the annual Spring Festival gatherings. It is much more important that people show their care for parents on other occasions.

Shen Zhirong, a researcher at Soochow University, Jiangsu province, Feb 13

Disputes over Spring Festival destinations only serve as an excuse for couples to argue, and they reveal problems concerning mutual respect and trust. Neither of them wants to neglect their filial duties, hence more patience and understanding are needed in their discussions of where to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Henan Business Daily, Feb 16

Pragmatically, some rules may be useful in solving similar problems of where to go to celebrate the Lunar New Year. For one, the Marriage Law and the Law on Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, could have flexible clauses that require a couple to visit each other's parents in turn. Moral rules are also necessary to promote gender and family equality - parents from either side should be equally treated.

iqilu.com, Feb 16