Unit 6: Festivals and customs

China has traditional festivals and current festivals

Ethnic minorities have their own festivals

In mainland of China both current and traditional festivals are observed now

Traditional festivals Spring Festival (Chinese Lunar New Year) Lantern Festival (yuánxiāo) Clear and bright (qīngmíng) Dragon boat festival (duānwǔ) Seven-seven festival (seventh month

seventh day) Double nine festival (chóngyáng, climbing

mountains) Mid Autumn festival

First day of the first lunar month 正月初一

Celebration:1. New Year’s Eve dinner for family reunion2. Posting red couplets, firecrackers3. Mutual visit on the new year’s day4. Giving gift, red envelope5. Habits: say lucky words, avoid taboos

The fifteenth day of the first month 正月十五

End of the Spring Festival celebration Eat yuánxiao 元宵 Hanging the red lanterns

Around 5 April Tomb Sweeping Festival, Tomb

Sweeping Day Visit, clean, and make offerings at

ancestral gravesites, spring outing

The 5th day of the 5th lunar month Dragon boat race, eat dumplings

wrapped in lotus leaves 粽子 Zòngzi. Commemorates the ancient poet Qū

Yuán Drink yellow rice wine

Also called Chinese Valentine’s Day 7th day of the 7th lunar month

The legendary story goes that the cow herder Niulang and Zhinu, a weaver of clouds fell in love and got married, but their bond was met with disapproval by Wangmu, Zhinu's mother and the queen of heaven. Niulang is viewed as the star Altair and Zhinu as the star Vega. With a swift move of her hairpin, she separated the two with a river in the sky, known today as the Milky Way. But the queen took pity on them and gave them one night of the year to spend together. On Qi Xi Jie, the queen is said to send magpies to bridge the gap between the two star lovers.

In Yi Ching, the Yang line is represented by 9.

The ninth day of the ninth month is a double Yang day, hence the name "Chong Yang Festival". (Chong means "repeat" in Chinese.) 

Climb mountains, appreciate chrysanthemum flowers, drink chrysanthemum wine, and eat double-ninth cakes.

The 15th day of the 8th lunar month

Family reunion, eating moon cakes

Appreciating the Moon

Current festivals New Year May Day (Labor Day) Children’s Day June 1 CCP anniversries August 1 Army Day September 14 Teachers Day October 1 National Day

Festivals of minorities (omitted) Please do your reserch on Tibetan and

Mongolian festivals

Names, title and addressing habits Zodiac signs Guānxi (connections, relationship) and

Gift giving Face saving issue Color and taboo

Strong-self reliance Confucian virtues Social structure Collectivists-group loyalty Kinship networks Verbal agreement (gentlemen

agreement)

Family name first, given name last Three characters are common, two

characters are possible. Four characters are rare:

谢天蔚 (myself) 平茵白 (my wife) 谢平 (my son) 钟灵毓秀 (my niece)

Avoid addressing the seniors by name Address seniors, officials, teachers,

professors, boss by Title+Surname

The following address terms are appropriate:

王老师 Wáng lǎoshī (Wang teacher) 张经理 Zhāng jīnglǐ (Zhang manager) 李总经理（李总） Lǐ zong-jīnglǐ (Li general

manager) 马校长 Mǎ xiàozhǎng (Ma pricipal) 周博士 Zhōu bóshì (Zhou doctor)

20

Break

In China friendship is a substitute for a legal system.

Guanxi (connections, personal relationships and pull) are seen as critical.

Hugging and kissing less prevalent in Asia than here.

In China, guānxì provides the necessary social glue between parties who interact over an extended period.

Guānxì refers in this context to a long-term relationship based on mutual obligation.

One begins to build guānxì by doing small favors, taking one out to dinner, or bringing a gift.

Trust also grows with the relationship, and one relies on the honor of his guānxì partner rather than legal remedies to vouchsafe an agreement.

Gifts are very important Chinese people decline gift three

times before accepting, be sensitive to genuine refusals.

Chinese do not open gifts when received. Do not think that they neglect your gift.

Do not open gift unless they insist

Foreign cigarettes, cognac, fine whisky, quality wine

Do not give clocks, cut flowers (particularly chrysanthemums), white objects these object carry association with death

Wrap gifts; red and gold are best wrapping paper.

Don’t use red ink to write.

Saving face plays some role in almost every culture, but in China and other Confucian countries it is a constant preoccupation.

One never speaks or acts in a social setting without calculating the effect on face.

A primary goal at a social or business gathering is to avoid embarrassing or offending one's associates.

One is humble and soft spoken One does not show or provoke anger

Red – celebration, wedding, political implication (good)

White – mourning, funeral, political implication (bad)

Black – mourning, funeral political implication (bad)

Yellow – for temple and emperors Green (hat) – humiliating for not

knowing that one’s wife has affairs with others

Readings Chinese Festivals

http://www.adventurebimbling.com/china/china_festivals.html Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches

http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/time/stemsandbranches.htm Zodiac

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/ Chinese customs http://eee.tsinghua.edu.cn/show.aspx?

id=903&cid=71

Internet search and sharing in class Chinese Festivals (2 students) Minorities’ festival (2 students) Customs and habits (2 students)