Youth League appeals for return to old traditions on Spring Festival

The Communist Youth League hpes traditional values can find a place in modern society. In Jiangxi Province, students in traditional costume recite classical lessons. CFP Photo

 

By Zhao Hongyi

The Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League is calling on young students to spend this Spring Festival in a traditional way and to restrain their behavior in public.

The committee, together with the Beijing Youth School of Traditional Chinese Culture, calls on young people to observe traditional etiquette, filial piety, chastity and temperance.

This February 14 marks the start of a new lunar year. Spring Festival usually comes in January or February each year during the winter holiday.

“Let’s remember traditional etiquette, show our respect to others and enrich ourselves and our knowledge of Beijing,” the proposal saiTraditional Chinese culture is a catch-all term for subjects as diverse as philosophy, military, literature and Confucian texts dealing with social order, personal behavior and outlook.

In the early 1900s, traditional culture experienced a revival in response to the weak Qing government, which allowed China to be divided up by foreign powers and the people to be oppressed.
In the 1990s, it came back again: this time against a backdrop of economic reform, a widening gap between the rich and poor, injustice, and poorly planned social welfare.

As the country enters a new decade, traditional culture is once again getting attention. Many universities are teaching it, kindergartens are offering early education classes in it and televised lectures are giving professors the chance to put forward new interpretations.

“There is no excuse for us to abandon the principles and guidance passed down by our ancestors for thousands of years,” Qiao aopeng, from the committee, said.

The committee is planning a lecture on traditional culture at 10 am February 7 on the second floor of the Xidan Book Store. They keynote speech will be delivered by a yet unnamed celebrity speaker.

The Communist Youth League has been called the incubation tube of China’s leaders. Many leaders, including former party secretary general Hu Yaobang, resident Hu Jintao and the expected future premier Li Keqiang, are former members.