overall Chinese festival

China is a country with a long history of about 5,000 years. In its ever-forward history course, there have developed a good number of traditional festivals which are of rich varieties and long-standing. The culture of festivals rooted deeply in the people, and it thus shows its enormous vitality. In spite of the change of times, it has gradually become part of the heritage of the colorful Chinese culture.

The generation and development of festivals is a course of their shaping, perfecting, and then their gradual integration with the social life. It is the result of social development that has reached a particular stage. The increasing productive force of the society, the ever-improving conditions of people's lives, and the emergence and frequency of religious activities have all provided a stage for the emerging and developing of festivals.

Most of the traditional festivals in ancient China had something to do with the development of astronomy, calendar, and mathematics. The beginning of these traditional festivals was particularly related to the later decided 24 seasonal division points under the traditional Chinese lunar calendar. All of the 24 seasonal divisions had almost been settled by the time of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). These divisions helped to form festivals, for, in their work and life, people developed different customs and activities which can express their good wishes according to the yearly change of seasons and natural phenomena. Based on these customs and events, festivals began to take their shapes.

A large part of the Chinese festivals had already shown the rudiment in the Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 BC), such as the New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Lantern Festival, Shanxi Festival, Hanshi Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Double Seventh Festival, and Double Ninth Festival. However, the shaping and spread of the customs have gone through a long time of development. The primal traditions were related to the primitive worship, and some superstitions, and they often had something to do with the colorful legends and stories, which have covered a romantic veil on the festivals. The religion also influenced the festivals to a certain extent. Some historical figures, after merging into the culture of festivals, also became more memorable in history. All these factors have contributed to the profound historical and cultural charm of festivals.

By the time of the Han Dynasty, the major traditional Chinese festivals had been settled to a large extent. The Han Dynasty was the first golden period after the great union of the whole country. At that time, the nation was in a stable position in terms of political and economic life, and science and technology were developing rapidly. Regional cultures such as the cultures of Qin, Chu, and Qi-Lu, which had had a long history, integrated in such a historical way that they finally formed a cultural community, which is represented by the culture of Han nationality. The factors above helped to create social and cultural conditions for the finalization of festivals.

Coming to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the festivals had stripped off its mysterious coat of primitive sacrifices and superstitions and changed into more entertaining amusement. Many relaxing activities appeared and soon prevailed as a kind of fashion. Festivals became so joyful and colorful that they became happy events. Owing to the communication between different nationalities and the development of religions, new vigor was always being infused into the culture of festivals, and the customs are able to last till today.

The traditional Chinese festivals not only are an essential part of the cultural life of the Chinese people, but they also play a unique role in commercial trade and cultural communication. Almost every festival is the day of trading and communicating. In these festivals, farmers exchange different products; townspeople improve their living conditions by purchasing goods; scholars share their works and the government also holds some grand activities to establish or reaffirm the moral principles as a kind of conduction.

The generation and development of traditional festivals is a long course of the accumulation of a nation's historical culture. The strong cohesion and considerable comprehension of traditional Chinese festivals are just in accord with the rich and colorful history of the Chinese nation. China has a lot of ethnic groups. Apart from some essential traditional festivals of Han nationality, the other fifty-five ethnic groups also have their peculiar festivals and customs. People today can easily make out an exciting picture of ancient people's social lives through the traditions of festivals that originated from ancient times and last till today. Getting close and even into the culture of these colorful festivals, you can get in touch with the essence of the Chinese culture.

Due to the development of society and the advancement times, people's views about life have significantly changed, and the culture of Chinese festivals is changing with time, too. Since the Revolution of 1911, China entered a phase where different festivals co-existed with each other. Some of them rose, and some of them fell. On the one hand, a few important ones, the four principal festivals (the Spring Festival, Pure Brightness Festival Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival), in particular, are still widely celebrated among people. Not only did they inherit the essence of the culture of traditional festivals, but they also developed more forms and took in some new elements of the new time. Some less critical festivals, on the other hand, were gradually forgotten and had faded over the years. Recently some western festivals were introduced into China, and these "foreign festivals" such as Valentine's Day, Fools' Day, Mothers' Day, and Christmas Day are becoming more and more popular among the Chinese people, especially the city youngsters.

As people's living conditions keep improving and their lifestyles change gradually, the ways of celebrating the festivals have changed, too. Combining both tradition and fashion, they show a trend of diversification. A large number of people stick to traditional customs no more and begin to choose a more casual and straightforward way to celebrate the festivals. Some new stuff drew people's attention: the Internet and short messages have brought a brand-new way of expressing good wishes between people. The Chinese festivals and the festival life of the Chinese people are getting more and more colorful and exciting.