【英語專業(yè)畢業(yè)論文on the protection of chinese traditional festivals from the perspective of the popularity of western festivals

1、【英語專業(yè)畢業(yè)論文】On the Protection of Chinese Traditional Festivals from the Perspective of the Popularity of Western Festivals IntroductionOn December 21 2006 there appeared a petition on the Internet Ten Philosophy and education PhD students from Chinese top Universities jointly called for netizens to be

2、 less existed about Western holidays They believed that Chinese were going to cultural collective unconsciousness The petition caused fierce argument on whether Chinese should celebrate Western festivals Regarding on this matter there is a survey conducted by Sinacom recently In it the host asks net

3、izens about their attitudes towards Christmas There are 18222 of them among whom the majority 639 said celebrating Christmas is another way to recreation nothing serious 1785 netizens regarded the festivals as a fashionable act showing they were not out of date These two parts clearly indicate the g

4、eneral opinion of the young And its true that most people who celebrate Western festivals do not know the connotation of those festivals揥ith the progress of globalization and the development of Chinese society economy and culture our eculture of folk festival has been impacted a lot Traditional fest

5、ivals are desalinating while Western festivals are becoming more and more popular In this situation I believe its very necessary to save our cultural of traditional festivals And such kind of voice is high in cultural circles攕aid Li Lulu 2005 profess of Chinese National iMuseum From the research mad

6、e by Sinacom and Lis point it is obvious seen that many people are really in cultural unconsciousness Are Western festivals really better than Chinese ones Or are there any other reasons to make Western festivals more popular The following chapters will give answers20Comparison between Western festi

7、vals and Chinese festivals Liu Kuili 2006 academic member of Chinese Social Science Institute said揂t present many people feel warm when they see Santa Claus However when talking about some our own traditional thin gs they feel these things out of date擜re Chinese traditional festivals really out of d

8、ate A comparison has been made between Western festivals and Chinese ones to answer this question21Similaraties Between Western festivals and Chinese festivals21 1Unoin harmony and blessing The Spring Festival is the most important festival in China while Christmas is the most important one of Weste

9、rn countries Though they have different cultural background they have something in common The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month It originates in the Shang Dynasty 1600BC-1100BC from the peoples sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of the passing year and the beginning

10、 of the new one Christmas is a religious festival It is the day when Christians celebrate the birthday of Jesus It falls on 25th December every year Cleaning house and decorating are what both Chinese and Western people do before the Spring Festival and Christmas One of the reasons people do this is

11、 to prepare a clean and beautiful house for the reunion of the family members and friends The reunion of the family members and friends is one of the important themes of the two festivals During the several days following the Spring Festival Chinese people visit each other and exchange gifts It is a

12、 time for reconciliation when old disagreement should be cast aside and the air is permeated by warmth and friendship Christmas also involves familial get-togethers and exchange of gifts Though meanwhile the language people use to express their blessing is different the blessing includes the same em

13、otion Sociologist Wang Xiao Zhang 2003 believes festivals provide opportunities for people to exchange ideas communicate and narrow the gap between them Both the Spring Festival and Christmas prove this point212 True love Love is so important in the life that people with different cultural backgroun

14、d have their festivals to show their cherishing of true love In China the Double Seventh Festival on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month is a traditional festival Scholars have shown the Double Seventh Festival originate from the Han Dynasty 206BC-220AD There is a beautiful love story about the origi

15、n of it According to Chinese folklore Zhinv the weaving girl in heaven who was the granddaughter of the Mother Lady Queen fell in love and married a young cowherd named Niulang despite the rule prohibiting marriage between mortal and immortal Zhinv was forced back to heaven but Niulang pursued her w

16、ith the magic ox The Mother Lady Queen lined out the Milky Way with her hairpin separating the couple Still their remained devoted and undeterred and at last on the 7th evening of the seventh lunar month bevies of magpies bridged the Milky Way to bring Zhinv and Niulang together As such the festival

17、 is known as Chinese Valentines Day This is a legend while the origin of Valentines Day in Western countries is a true story St Valentine was a young priest who defied an edict from Rome and the Emperor that prohibited young males in the army from marrying It was believed that if a soldier were to m

18、arry it would lesson his strength and dedication and change them into poor soldiers St Valentine defied the edict and continued to conduct wedding ceremonies And for this defiance he was executed on February 14 in 269 To commemorate this hero later generations made this day a celebration of youthful

19、 love Both stories show that true love can overcome all the difficulties Even life can be devoted to protection of true love The two festivals embody peoples high value of true love22 Difference between Western festivals and Chinese festivals 221 Ways of expression Our traditional cultural encourage

20、 implicit ways to express our emotion This point affects our traditional festivals deeply We also exchange gifts during some important festivals but most of these gifts are health-protective products We also send cards to our friends or relatives but we seldom express our emotion directly For exampl

21、e most Chinese people never say love directly to their parents In contrast Western peoples ways of expressing their emotion are much more direct and various than ours Their ways of celebrating festivals can testify this point Flowers play an important role in Western festivals The first kind of flow

22、er should be mentioned here is rose Sending roses to their love is the direct way for youth to express their love on Valentines Day On Mothers Day carnations are the most popular flowers Sons and daughters use it to express their love for their mothers In Chinese festivals we do not have this kind o

23、f gifts to show our loveParty just like flower is an important part in Western festivals Sometimes it is so exciting that it becomes carnival People especially youth like to use this form to lesson stress and communicate with each other Party is a good way for people to express their emotion directl

24、y222 Food culture Turkey is the typical dish on the day of Christmas in Western countries It is said that when the pioneers of American first arrived at the new continent eatable thing there were very limited But they found that there were many turkeys Those fatty and big turkeys helped them out and

25、 became the most important food on their tables at Christmas Comparing with Western countrys big meal of turkey Chinese festival food is much more various and has more cultural background Jiaozi a traditional Chinese food is the representative food during the Spring Festival These round dumplings ji

26、aozi signify the reunion of family In northern China families traditionally spend New Years Eve together preparing the dumplings which are eaten at the midnight One of the most popular courses is Jiaozi boiled in water One lucky person may find a coin inside Crescent-shaped Jiaozi are the symbol of

27、health and prosperity because of their resemblance to ancient Chinese money silver ingots Niangao is another important food during the Spring Festival Their sweetness symbolizes a rich sweet life while the layers symbolize rising abundance for the coming yearMany traditional Chinese foods are used t

28、o honor the gods or divine persons in history Zongzi a glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves is such kind of food It is used to honor Qu Yuan 340BC-278BC the pioneer patriotic poet of ancient China Qu Yuan was a famous patriotic poet Unfortunately his stature aroused the jealousy

29、of the king who banished him to a remote area The poet despaired of the government and its policies When the states capital was captured by enemies he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on May 5th according to the Chinese lunar calendar The Chinese people felt this loss deeply

30、as he was a much beloved poet Local folk searched for him in the river meanwhile dropping dumplings of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves into the river in order to keep the fish from attacking Qu Yuans body At present eating Zongzi on the 5th day of the fifth lunar month has become a c

31、ustom all over ChinaMoon cakes are an important part of the Mid-Autumn Festival In the 14th century a revolt against the Mongols developed and messages of the revolution were writing on paper then backed into the cakes The secret messages in the moon cakes were sent to the revolutionists Things are

32、different now and the moon cakes are given to friends and relatives during the festival to convey blessing Moon cakes are made with sweet fillings of nuts mashed red beans lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates wrapped in a pastry Sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of the rich tasting

33、 dessert The round shape of moon cake means the reunion of the family to ChineseYuanxiao is the special food for the Lantern Festival It is believed that Yuanxiao is named after a place maid Yuanxiao of Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty It is a kind of sweet dumpling which is made with sticky rice fl

34、our filled with sweet stuffing It symbolizes the sweet life30 Reasons for difference to Chinese traditional festivals The comparison above proves Chinese traditional festivals also have various cultural connotations Well then what makes Western festivals more popular than Chinese one31 Losing essenc

35、e According to the survey conducted by the Beijing Youth Daily during the Spring Festival 499 percent of respondents said they set off firecrackers while only 177 percent said they have a ceremony to worship their ancestors And a mere 16 percent said they put up Spring Festival couplets on the front

36、 gates of their houses It proves that the essence of traditional festivals is degenerating Some new changes are taking place According to Guo Zhichun 2007 a cultural commentator at the Global Times no countrys New Year is parallel to the Spring Festival in China in terms of commercialization and mat

37、erialism In Western countries friends and relatives exchange gifts on Christmas Day but their gifts are usually simple and not expensive In China gifts have become increasingly expensive Many Chinese confess that the Spring Festival has become an economic and psychological burden of them They are tr

38、ied of the excessive number of advertisements for sales and the problem of deciding what to buy for others Drinking and eating during the festivals is another burden on customers pockets And for health conscious Chinese who have spent the year keeping in shape the Spring Festival can be seen as a bu

39、rden on belly too Even the greeting words are something too materialized The most popular greeting words Chinese people use during the Spring Festival are Congratulations on greeting rich or May you be prosperous while the wish for good health is a second choice The Spring Festival is not alone The

40、other important tradition Chinese Festivals such as the Mid-Autumn Festival the Lantern Festival are losing their essence and turning into simple shopping or eating events too32 Misleading of Business The arising of celebrating foreign festivals apparently has something to do with the advancement of

41、 Chinese economy When a major festival arrives business circles are trying every means to boost the atmosphere thus finding opportunity to attract every possible customer Hotels make full use of the chance to offer luxurious Christmas dinner the price of which is 2 times higher than the normal one S

42、till these luxuries are sold out in seconds Some shopping centers redecorate their little gifts such as doll bears and chocolates to sell at special price Some travel agencies make Christmas lines Even cinemas are providing something different Business rather than culture has begun to play a dominat

43、e role in festivals More and more people are preoccupied with how much money can be earned during festivals The atmosphere of Valentines Day is quite observable To meet a lot of love couples roses are emerging at any place such as shopping center squares metro stations and so on The advertisement of

44、 chocolate and other gifts are at their peak of the year Newspapers and fashion magazines boost a lot of the festivals giving all kinds of tips from how to send suitable gifts to your loved ones how to write a special and romantic love letter even how to arrange a surprise date The atmosphere raised

45、 by the businessmen stimulates the public and raise their desire to celebrate the foreign festivals However there is no businessman telling people the cultural background of those foreign festivals Under their propagating people celebrate those festivals just for fun33 Lacking humanity Since the Peo

46、ples Republic of China was found in 1949 public holidays such as the New Years Day January 1 the Spring Festival the 1st day of the 1st lunar month in the Chinese calendar International Womens Day March 8 International Labors Day May 1 Youth Day May 4 Childrens Day June 1 Anniversary of the Founding

47、 of the Communist Party of China July 1 Army Day August 1 and National Day October 1 have all been decided These holidays have revolutionary origins but most people think they lack humanity concern At the same time other traditional Chinese festivals such as the Lantern Festival the 15th day of the

48、1st lunar month Qingming Festival April 5 Dragon Boat Festival the 5th day of the 5th lunar month Mid-Autumn Day the 15th day of the 8th lunar month and Double Ninth Festival the 9th day of the 9th lunar month which express love between human beings are not included We can not ignore that Western fe

49、stival pay more attention to the personal relationship while the Chinese ones originate from the mortals awe for the immortals The International Labor Day holiday the National Day holiday and the Spring Festival holiday are the three weeklong holidays China has now The last one is the only holiday t

50、hat ties in with Chinas traditional customs Many festivals considered important days on Chinas lunar calendar such as New Years Eve Mid-Autumn Day and Qingming Festival on which people pay their respects to their ancestors are not celebrated and the customs are not commonly commemorated in cities as

51、 people have to work on these days34 Spreading of Christianity in China Nowadays cultural exchange between China and Western countries is becoming more and more frequent Christianity is also extending inland unavoidably The developing impetus of Christianity in China springs up like bamboo shoots af

52、ter a spring rain According to the data on line there are about 16 million Christians in Chinese inland However some foreign organizations believe that there are more than 60 million Christians in China There is a survey conducted among students of Sichuan University and Folk College of Southwest Ch

53、ina on religious idea From the result of 254 valid questionnaire 14 students involved think religion is against science meanwhile over 23 students believe religion includes truth 72 people answer that there are religious believers around them 86 people believe religion can satisfy the spiritual need

54、 of believers 62 people think religion can go harmoniously with socialism It can be seen from this survey that more and more people can accept Christianitys entering Chinese culture Consequently the fanaticism of some people especially youth who think they are Christians makes contribution to the po

55、pularity of some Western festivals in China though most of them do not know the connotation of Christianity well 35 Age differences The attitudes toward Western festivals are various from person to person Western festivals are popular mainly among the younger generation while the senior show little

56、interest in them At present youth are growing in the atmosphere of easy acceptance of foreign cultures and increasing tolerance toward foreign festivals It makes them happy to send greeting cards at Christmas send chocolates to their beloved ones on Valentines Day make jokes on April fools day and h

57、ug their parents on Mothers Day and Fathers Day To them foreign festivals enrich their lives giving them more occasions to have fun and appreciate love While on the other hand the older generation is quiet indifferent to foreign festivals They still prefer traditional Chinese festivals during which

58、the reunion of the family is still greatly emphasized They regard the young peoples enthusiastic interest in Christmas and Valentines Day as being deceived by business tricks To them the money spent on gifts and flowers is waste40 Inspiration from other countries41 Increasing humanity concern The wa

59、ys that Western countries celebrate their festivals have much inspiration to us especially the essence of humanity of their festivals In Western countries children like Christmas because they can get unexpected gifts from Santa Claus Santa Claus the old man in red is a very amiable and healthy image But during our Spring Festivals elders give children money as gift Comp