A cultural campaign aimed at reviving the zest of China’s national folk festivals has failed to generate the enthusiastic response hoped by government officials — this despite an unusual apology issued by the culture minister for half a century of persistent destruction of the nation’s heritage. Celebrations of Qi Xi, the native version of Valentine’s Day, created little ripple among young couples on July 31, beyond the match-making parties organised in a few big cities. Qi Xi, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, is a festival, which in Chinese traditional folklore, celebrates the reunion in heaven of two ill-fated lovers, a cowherd and a weaver girl.

“China’s Lovers’ Day needs more lovers,” complained Xinhua, noting that young people still preferred Valentine’s Day with its ubiquitous chocolate hearts and flowers as expressions of their affections. Last year, China lost to South Korea its bid to enlist the traditional Dragon Boat Festival on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. South Korea, which celebrates the festival in a more ritualised way, succeeded in claiming it as part of its own cultural heritage. China’s defeat in the bid for the UNESCO listing provoked a barrage of soul-searching articles by the intelligentsia. The decline of traditional culture, which started in the beginning of the 20th century with China’s attempts to shed its feudal past and transform itself into a modern state, exacerbated during the communist rule. Mao Zedong believed that the old had to be swept away before the new could be built and rallied people to destroy the “four olds” — everything from old customs to beliefs and traditions.

The Western Valentine’s Day is now among the most celebrated festivals in China. Sun Jiazheng, the culture minister, admitted in late May that not enough had been done to protect the country’s cultural heritage in China’s headlong rush to modernisation. Officials responded by embarking on an anxious counter-offensive to boost the preservation and popularity of China’s old folk customs and festivals. They compiled a list of six traditional festivals to be placed under state protection, including the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival, as well as Qi Xi, China’s Valentine’s Day. The State Council, China’s cabinet, established a new Cultural Heritage Day. A list of “endangered” cultural traditions, including old craftsmanship and festival rituals, to be protected has been drawn up and a new law on the preservation of China’s cultural heritage is in the works.

Even the widely celebrated Spring Festival, which marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year, is nowadays losing its appeal. Once spent in family reunions at home it is now often lavishly celebrated in five-star hotels. “Koreans have succeeded in claiming the Dragon Boat festival as a world heritage item. If we continue ignoring the weakening of our traditions, the Vietnamese may end up claiming spring festival as their own,” warned Chinese columnist Liu Shinan. — IPS