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New Festivals |
In the past two decades,
hundreds and thousands of new festivals have emerged throughout China.
Three motivations are responsible for this: eagerness for the modernization
drive, increasing leisure, expanding tourism.
Increasing leisure both calls for and provides for these joyful events.
Increasing tourism, domestic and international, stimulate ingenious
ideas and programs, the best of which are new festivals.
The predominant concern of China is to get modernized as fast as possible.
Everything must serve this purpose , including tourism. This uppermost
interest is best brought out in one shared watchword of all new festivals;
cultural activities are the stage, economic activities are dramas
to be staged.
It is impossible to cite even a tiny part of these thousands of festivals.
The reader just has to remember one fact. There is virtually more
than one festival in every county of China.
Just a few examples will show the incredible variety. The Confucian
Culture Festival in the saint-philosopher's home city, the Ancient
Culture Festival of the ancient capital Xi'an, the Dragon Boat Festival
of Yueyang the home place of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, the Zhuzhou
Fireworks Festival in Hunan Province, the Chengdu Giant Panda Festival,
the Peony Festival of the ancient capital Luoyang, the Weifang Kite
Festival near the East China Sea , the Wuhan Acrobatics Festival in
central China, the Guangxi Folk Song Festival in the southwest, the
Shaolin Temple Martial Arts Festival in Henan Province, the Wax Printing
Art Festival of the Guizhou minorities, the Yangliuqing New Year Pictures
Festival in Tianjin, the Silk Road Festival in China's northwest,
the Famous Liquors Festival in Guizhou , the Hangzhou Pleasure Boat
Festi-val, the Guangdong Litchi Festival, the Hainan Coconut Festival,
the Beancurd Festival of Huainan City in central Anhui.... |
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