MASARYK UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF SOCIAL STUDIES

Department of Sociology

Globalization and Chinese Spring Festival

Master's Thesis

Shuangping Xu

Supervisor: Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D.

UO: 380537

Study Field: Sociology

Year of Enrollment: 2010 Brno, 2012

1I hereby declare that this thesis I submit for assessment is entirely my own work andhas not been taken from the work of others save to the extent that such work has beencited and acknowledged within the text of my work.

Date: Signature

2Acknowledgement

I most want to acknowledge the one hundred seventy-eight informants who

contributed to my research. I also owe great gratitude to my supervisor Professor

Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky. Her knowledge, insight, attitude towards academics and

teaching helped me gain new perspectives both on my academics and my life. The

idea of this thesis is invoked from one of her lectures: transnational studies. From that

time, I found myself very interested in cultural sociology and wanted to use what I

had learned from the class to do some research on the development of Chinese culture.

Dr. Jaworsky helped me to develop my topic in November 2011, and then gave me

suggestions, recommended me resources, revised my outline, and guided me through

the whole process of writing m thesis. I am grateful for her patience.

Many people have given me help more or less in my thesis writing. Michail

Tsikerdekis and Wei Lai helped me to improve my analysis skill with SPSS. Ran

Xueyu recommended me some good resources. Xiao Xiao, Li Hanwei, Cheng Jing,

Tian Jing, Li Guangtian, Zhang Kun, Cao Qifeng and Wang Taihui contributed theirown ideas and opinions in constructing my topic. My friends in Czech Republic and I

shared happiness and bitterness of the thesis writing journey, and their support andcare helped drive away boredom and fatigue in this long journey.

I must also thank my parents, they always asked about how my thesis was going on

and pushed me forward. Their insight, courage, optimism and struggling spirit is a

motivation for me.

3Abstract

Recent years have brought a decline in the traditional flavor of long-standing Chinese

festivals, including the most influential Spring Festival. Conversely, the Western

celebration of Christmas seems to be more welcomed than the Spring Festival.

Despite the fact that there is much discussion about these two festivals in China, few

scholars have carried out empirical research to analyse how Spring Festival has

actually changed in the context of globalization and the spread of Christmas. Through

conducting a survey as well as qualitative interviews with young people in Guiyang,

China, I explore how the meaning and the celebration of Spring Festival has changed

and whether such changes are related to the rise of Christmas in contemporary China.

The findings from my research reveal that Spring Festival is still very important for

many Chinese young people. The rise of Christmas does not threaten Spring Festival.

First, Spring Festival still retains its vitality but is understood and celebrated in some

new ways. Second, the Western Christmas holiday has been glocalized since its

arrival in China. Therefore, the claims of some scholars that the popularity of

Christmas has made Spring Festival drop into decline are simply overstated.

Key Words:

Christmas, globalization, glocalization, Guiyang, modernization, Spring Festival,

Westernization, young Chinese

4ContentTotal Characters: 144624

Introduction....................................................................................................................1Chapter 1 Theoretical Context .......................................................................................6

1.1"Tradition in the Context of Globalization, Modernization andWesternization...................................................................................................6

1.2 The Processes of Globalization, Modernization and Westernization in China..91.3 Christmas and Glocalization ........................................................................... 11

Chapter 2 Spring Festival and Christmas in China......................................................132.1 Spring Festival in China..................................................................................132.2 Christmas in China..........................................................................................152.3 The Relationship between the Two Festivals..................................................182.4 The So-called Decline of Spring Festival .......................................................20

2.4.1 Dysfunction of Spring Festival .............................................................212.4.2 Festival Transformation and Social Construction.................................222.4.3 Mismatch between Festival Characters and Psychological

Satisfaction...........................................................................................23Chapter 3 Methodology and Methods..........................................................................26

3.1 Research Design..............................................................................................263.2 Research Methodology ...................................................................................273.3 Research Methods...........................................................................................29

3.3.1 Survey ...................................................................................................293.3.2 Interviews..............................................................................................313.3.3 Sampling Techniques ............................................................................31

3.4 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................33Chapter 4 Spring Festival Preferences among Chinese Young People........................35

4.1 The Role of Gender and Age ..........................................................................354.2 Basic Knowledge ............................................................................................404.3 Celebration Ways and Intentions ....................................................................42

Chapter 5 Christmas among Young People in China...................................................515.1 Basic Knowledge ............................................................................................515.2 Celebration Age ..............................................................................................565.3 Celebration Ways and Intentions ....................................................................59

Chapter 6 Conclusion...................................................................................................686.1 Summary.........................................................................................................686.2 Implications.....................................................................................................716.3 Limitations of the Study..................................................................................736.4 Suggestions for Future Research ....................................................................73

References....................................................................................................................75Name Index.................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.Appendix......................................................................................................................78

Appendix I ............................................................................................................79

5Appendix II ...........................................................................................................84

1Introduction

While many people around the world are dazed by alien things and cheer the "global

village" built by globalization and modernization, some scholars have begun to

criticize this phenomenon. They think the rise of Western culture through

globalization and modernization has threatened traditional Chinese cultures.

With the development of globalization and Westernization, many Chinese people have

welcomed Western culture with open arms and great passion. Not only is learning

English a very important task for Chinese students, but many Western traditions and

festivals have also become significant aspects of social life, especially for young

people, who seem to worship and have blind faith in all things foreign. They might

consider Western culture more advanced and consider those who follow it "cooler"

and more "modern" than those who do not. To some degree, their attitude toward all

foreign culture has had an influence on the preservation of traditional Chinese culture

and festivals, for example, Chinas most important festival Spring Festival.

Some people think the flavor of Spring Festival has declined in recent years;

conversely, Christmas seems to be more welcomed in China. They envision this shift

as a Chinese cultural crisis. Many articles in newspapers, magazines and on the

Internet have analyzed the reasons for this phenomenon and pointed out the

importance of preserving the unique culture of the traditional Spring Festival.

Mingmei Wang (2004reports that the function of Spring Festival has been weakenedsince the development of the modern society. In the past, people had thought Spring

Festival was a good chance to have a big meal and spend time with family, she argues.

But now, with the improvement of living conditions, people can have great meals

every day and they prefer to send wishes via SMS or call family members and friends

rather than visit them in person. Meanwhile, the spread of Western festivals also

intensifies the indifference of the Chinese toward traditional festivals. Not only do

2young people like western festivals, but middle-aged or old people have begun to

participate in them as well (M. Wang 2004). Another analysis of Chinese traditionalfestivals (A. Wang 2006) encouraged cultural exchanges between China and othercountries rather than building a cultural defense. Chinese traditional culture can

develop though absorbing good things from western culture; for example, cultural

glocalization1, which I will discuss further in a later section, is a good solution.

Some scholars go deeper into this topic through psychological and sociological

perspectives. For example, Xiufen Zhang (2006) discusses how Spring Festival couldchange its traditional form into a more modern one, and what a good transition it

could be. Xiufen Zhang (2006) thinks that the biggest problem the Chinese have inpreserving their traditional culture is that the ways in which the traditional culture has

been passed down have been discontinued. Xiaofang Wang (2006) calls for thepreservation of traditional festivals as a type of non-material cultural heritage,

considering it to be just as important as the material cultural heritage. Non-materialcultural heritage includes the customs, tradition and folklore of a region, and material

cultural heritage consists of antiques as well as natural and man-made cultural relics.

For example, proposals and policies have been made for establishing the Dragon Boat

Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Lantern Festival as legal holidays so that

people can have a chance to think about what are considered to be essential traditional

values of the Chinese nation.

Despite the fact that "Christmas fever" has intrigued many social scientists and much

research has been done, few have conducted actual empirical research and discussed

Spring Festival and Christmas in contemporary China. Globalization and

modernization do bring in many new ideas and lifestyles in China, and some scholars

1 Robertson see glocalization as the results of the fact that "local cultures and the forces of globalization arethoroughly interpenetrated and coshaping" (Robertson 2004).

3think the more foreign dazzling things the Chinese get from globalization, the more

easily young people "lose themselves" and neglect their own traditions and cultures.

Therefore, scholars call for Chinese people, especially the young people, to clarify the

positions of Christmas and Spring Festival and keep a cool head when they face the

Christmas Fever in China. Meanwhile, they argue, particular effort should be made

to preserve a traditional culture which is rooted in more than 5000 years of history

and represents national and cultural identity; it must be saved from eventual

disappearance in such a global festival atmosphere.

In reality, what are the effects of globalization and Westernization on Spring Festival?

In other words, how has Spring Festival changed in the context of globalization and

the spread of Western festivals like Christmas? This overarching question raises

several more specific and related questions: has Spring Festival weakened? Has the

rise of the celebration of Christmas threatened the position of Spring Festival? Is it

possible that Spring Festival retains its vitality but just in another way? What are theactual changes in how Spring Festival and Christmas are celebrated? How and why do

young Chinese people celebrate Spring Festival and Christmas nowadays?

My research will address these questions. Therefore, the primary purpose of my

research is to call scholars and policymakers to rethink the positions of Spring

Festival and Christmas in China. I believe my findings can help people cultivate a

deeper and more objective perspective on the relation between these two festivals.

When I first considered writing about festivals and noticed the empirical gap in

existing research, I developed the idea of comparing young people's conceptions of

Spring Festival and Christmas. It became clear during my review of the existing

literature that people's perceptions of these two festivals needs to be investigated

further. Combining quantitative and qualitative approaches provides an excellent

opportunity to develop a thesis that addresses an important national cultural issue in a

"real-world" wayan opportunity to put various perspectives on cultural and

4modernization theory into practice. This mix of methods increases the validity of my

analysis and provides a deeper understanding of the study results to the reader.

My research focuses on the results of a thirty-question survey of young people,

ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-five years old, in Guiyang, the capital city of

Guizhou province in China. I also utilize data from qualitative interviews with twelve

respondents who had completed the previous questionnaires. My findings provide a

chance to explore the most representative Chinese and Western holidays, Spring

Festival and Christmas, considering both how people celebrate these holidays, and the

reasons why they celebrate them. This study will analyze the reasons behind the

differing perspectives held by the young people of Guiyang regarding these two

culturally important festivals.

The remainder of this thesis is organized as follows: The first chapter covers the

theoretical context and briefly introduces the concept of "tradition" in the context of

globalization, modernization, westernization and glocalization. The second chapter

provides an introduction to Spring Festival and Christmas in China and outlines the

scholarly debates concerning the relationship between these two festivals.

The third chapter puts forward my research questions and explains the methods and

methodology of data collection and data analysis. The main body of the thesis is

devoted to research findings and discussion. Chapter 4 is especially concerned with

the perceptions of Spring Festival. Through my research, I discovered that many

young people still prefer Spring Festival to Christmas. While they celebrate Spring

Festival in new ways, they nevertheless maintain the old traditions of the holiday.

Therefore, Spring Festival is still very important for young Chinese people. Chapter 5

focuses especially on perspectives of Christmas. My research shows that although

Christmas is on the rise in China, there is nothing to suggest it wil take the position of

Spring Festival. Thus, it is an exaggeration to claim that Christmas is threatening the

supremacy of Spring Festival. Both chapters individually examine in depth the

5findings on these two festivals. The concluding chapter summarizes the findings,

points out the limitations of the research and gives suggestions for further exploration

of this topic.

6Chapter 1 Theoretical Context

1.1 "Tradition in the Context of Globalization, Modernization and

Westernization

Since this study mainly focuses on two important festivals and the relation between

them, it is necessary to review some works about tradition first and then move on to

analysis of how tradition works within the context of globalization, modernization and

Westernization.

In The Invention of Tradition, Eric Hobsbawn (1992) and his colleagues gave rise to anew trend of rethinking the origin of "tradition. He stated: "many of the traditions

which we think of as very ancient in their origins were not in fact sanctioned by long

usage over the centuries, but were invented comparatively recently" (Hobsbawn1992:2). He claims that tradition is invented by people (Hobsbawn 1992:2). Thisargument is supported by Anthony Giddens, who thinks we are living in a post-natural

society (Giddens 1990:43). In this society, it is rare that we can find something that isunaffected by human intervention. Society is similarly post-traditional; tradition is

also invented by people (Giddens 1990:43). However, where Hobsbawn bases hisanalysis of tradition on ritual and symbolism, Giddenss view embeds tradition within

the context of modernization and globalization.

Giddens claims that tradition is a creation of modernity (Giddens 1990). We areliving in a world where modernization is not confined to one geographical area, but

makes itself felt globally, which has a number of consequences for tradition (Giddens1990). He asserts that under modernization, there is no tradition which can lastforever with the same forms: "Other societies across the world that remained more

traditional are becoming detraditionalised (Giddens 1990:43). However, he furtherexplains that this detraditionalization does not mean the end of tradition. On the

7contrary, it refers to traditions which continue to flourish everywhere, albeit in

different versions (Giddens 1990:44). For example, the Christmas celebration, whichhas long been a tradition in many western countries, is now very famous in China. But

Christmas is celebrated in a uniquely Chinese way instead of the original Western way.

Thus, according to Giddens's theory, while the tradition of Christmas is flourishing in

China, it is just celebrated in a new form. Giddens regards this process of formingdifferent versions of tradition as the core of the emerging global cosmopolitan society

(Giddens 1990:43).Thus, the process of forming different versions of traditions can beseen as a process of modernization, which usually has a very close relationship with

two other key concepts: Westernization and globalization.

Giddens defines globalization as a social relation in the world (Giddens 2000). This

relation can connect different things which are far away from each other. An event in

one place can cause another event in another place (Giddens 2000:56). However,

globalization is also a process by which the experiences of everyday life marked by

the diffusion of commodities and ideas is becoming standardized around the world"

(Watson 2003:133). The world culture2 "could be easily thought of as homogeneousor homogenizing" (Pieterse 2006:3), which may be why some scholars claim thatglobalization means the straightforward hegemony of American values (Reich 1998).

Nevertheless, in describing the hegemony of American values, I think Westernization

could be a better term than globalization. Westernization refers to the assimilation of

Western culture, encompassing both European and American culture. It is a process

through which the traditional, long-established societies can be influenced by Western

culture. ("Westernization" n.d.) As Westernization transforms peoples daily lives, itbrings along many symbols of American culture and values, such as Disney and

McDonald's.

2 World culture refers to an organization of diversity, an increasing interconnectedness of varied local cultures, anda development of cultures without a clear anchorage in any one territory. People can relate in different ways to thisinterconnected diversity (Ulf Hannerz 1996).

8In actuality, Westernization, modernization, and globalization are intertwined and

interdependent. Just asas Vago (2004:103) contendsmodernization changes thequality of people's lives from both objective and subjective measures, globalizationand Westernization do the same. They bring about not only material or objectivechanges, but also subjective or perceptional changes. For example, Christmas, whichrepresents an American culture and should be celebrated only in Western countries, is

now very popular for Chinese young people; so much so that scholars even worry that

Spring Festivals traditional position is being threatened by Christmas.

However, Hamid Mowlana (1995:41) suggests that globalization has brought moresurface homogenization than fundamental change. Mowlana would most likely

disagree with those scholars who argue that the popularity of Christmas in China justreflects how influential American culture is and that Christmas is a definite symbol of

homogeneous American values which threatens the position of the Chinese traditional

festival. I agree in part with Mowlana's ideas; I think there is a possibility that people

overstate the importance of Christmas.

Therefore, in regard to Spring Festival and Christmas, people should keep an

objective perspective. Since the spread of Christmas throughout the world tonon-Christian places is indeed a result of globalization, modernization, and

Westernization, it does change people's lives and values. Nonetheless, we should

examine in more detail such questions as: How did Christmas come to China? How

do the Chinese experience modernization, Westernization, and globalization? Is it

reasonable to say that the introduction or the rise of Christmas in China has threatened

the position of Spring Festival? How do Chinese people celebrate Christmas? Is

Spring Festival still important for Chinese people, and can it maintain its vitality and

vibrancy in the context of modernization, Westernization and globalization? It could

be interesting to use Giddens's theory to analyze Christmas and Spring Festival in

China.

91.2 The Processes of Globalization, Modernization and Westernization in China

The late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century was a turning

point for the Chinese as the role of China in the world was changed by foreign

invaders3 (Hobson 2004:36). Before that time, China was the center of the worldeconomy and culture; for example, silk production was exported from China to

Europe, porcelain making traveled from China to Europe, Chinese agricultural

technologies revolutionized English agriculture (Hobson 2004:36). Hobson claimsthat oriental globalization was the midwife, if not the mother, of the medieval and

modern West" (Hobson 2004:36).

However, as western learning began to penetrate the East from the end of the Ming

Dynasty (1368 A.D.1644 A.D.) onward, the center of power and influencegradually shifted from China to the West (Pieterse 2006:3). According to Pieterse,there are three reasons for the decline of China: "One of the cornerstones of

Eurocentrism is the idea that in the fifteenth century after return of Zheng He's naval

expeditions, China turned away from maritime trade and that this caused its gradual

decline and opened the way for the expansion of European trade in Asia.

Additionally, "another cornerstone of Eurocentrism is Oriental despotism"; and finally,

"a centrepiece of Eurocentrism is the judgement that other cultures (Chinese culture)lacked the European commitment to enterprise and accumulation" (Pieterse 2006:3).For example, Weber praised the Protestant ethic and described Islam and

Confucianism as obstacles to modern development (Pieterse 2006:3).

As Pieterse (2006) argues, while China had an important role in the process oforiental globalization, the above three factors gave rise to a China that could neither

keep its position at the center of the world economy forever nor escape from the

large-scale Western globalization later on. According to Ji(2006), China has been on3 The "Eight-Power Allied Force: invading troops sent by Britain, Germany, The United States, France, TsaristRussia, Japan, Italy and Austria .

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the path to westernization since the late1890s, when China was invaded with the

advanced weapons of the West. The invasion of western countries, with their

advanced technologies and culture, gave the arrogant local governors a big shock. At

that time, Chinese people first realized that not only was western material civilization

worth learning from, but also their spiritual civilization. Cultural communication has

always been one of the most important activities in human history, as well as the most

important aspect of modernization (Ji 2006). Thus, western culture and modernizationgained unprecedented popularity in China.

As reported by Schoppa (2011), China has been attempting to modernize since thefinal few years of the Qing Dynasty. From 1902 to 1908, China began to carry out aset of reforms based on Western models in infrastructure, transportation, and

government. These reforms also included aspects of democracy, which are often

associated with the process of modernization. Unfortunately, these reforms were not

successful in the end, but they resulted in the Revolution of 1911 and the May 4th

Movement of 1919.

China's modernization represents a transition from a traditional agricultural society to

a modern industrial society. Zhenyi Li (1991) summarizes the history of China'smodernization as follows: there were three important periods in the development of

Chinese modernization. In 1919, the concept of modernization appears with the 'May

Fourth Movement'. At that time, many intellectuals and scholars began to discuss the

future of China, and 'modernization' was the keyword which could be found in many

newspapers or journals. One of the most influential events was the reformation of theformat of Chinese writing from traditional characters to simplified characters. In 1975,

Premier Zhou Enlai mentioned 'Four Modernizations' in his government report and

called on Chinese people to learn and develop modernization in the fields of industry,

agriculture, national defence, science and technology. In the 1990s, the concept of

'modernization' became particularly popular in China. Many scholars and leaders

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began to learn the theory of modernization, giving thought to the relations between

tradition and modernity, and to the ways in which modernization could be realized in

China (Z. Li 1991:145-156).

So far, according to the China Modernization Report 2006, China has entered the

developing period of the first social modernization. China's Hong Kong, Macao and

Taiwan have completed the first social modernization; the first social modernization

index of Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai exceeded 90%, and they have largelycompleted the first social modernization (Chinese Academy of Science 2006).

1.3 Christmas and Glocalization

Since China has entered into the first social modernization and many Western

technologies, cultures, and values have been introduced in China under globalization

and Westernization, many scholars began to consider the impact these Western things

have had on Chinese culture, for example, what impacts those Western festivals have

on Chinese traditional festivals.

Although different scholars have different ideas about the relationship between Spring

Festival and Christmas, the most important festivals in China and Western countries

(See Chapter 2, section 2.3), few of them conduct research on the changes ofChristmas. The Christmas they mention in their articles is the original Christmas, the

traditional Western Christmas. However, is it possible that Christmas changed when it

arrived in China? If so, it seems unreasonable to analyze the relationship between the

original, Western Christmas and Spring Festival. So, to study how Spring Festival

changes in the context of globalization and its relationship with Christmas, the first

thing I think we should do is to clarify if Christmas in China is still the original

Christmas.

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Kottak (2005:412) contends that "when forces from world centers enter new societies,they are indigenizedmodified to fit the local culture. This is true of cultural forces

as various as fast food, music, housing styles, science, terrorism, celebrations, and

political ideas and institutions. According to Kottaks theory, Christmas would be

one was one of those cultural forces; it arrived in China in the 1980s and was

subsequently indigenized. For example the majority of the people in modern Chinaare non-religious and as a result, Chinese Christmas is far more secular than it is

Christian.

Meanwhile, Christmas as Western culture has been globalized during the process of

globalization. Christmas is globalized first and then localized in China. This process

cannot be simply defined as globalization or localization. It is a process called

glocalization. According to Robertson, globalization is marked culturally by

processes of glocalization, whereby local cultures adapt and redefine any global

cultural product to suit their particular needs, beliefs and customs" (Robertson andGiuianotti 2004:546). "Local cultures and the forces of globalization are thoroughlyinterpenetrated and coshaping; hence, the effects of globalization on everyday cultural

life via global brands, fashion, and mass media are more accurately described as a

process of glocalization" (Robertson and Giulanotti 2004:546). As Mendis says, thecountry case studies illustrate convincing perspectives that globalization or

Americanization is not fully responsible for these changes taking place around the

globe (2007:10). Furthermore, "analysis critically examines the dynamic changesresulting from interactions between global and local forces that are transforming these

societies and cultures in unique ways: the ' glocalization' process" (Mendis 2007:10).

Therefore, viewing Christmas in China as fundamentally different from the Western

one is necessary in studying how Spring Festival has changed; its relationship with

Christmas is better viewed within the context of glocalization instead of simply

globalization or localization.

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Chapter 2 Spring Festival and Christmas in China

The debate surrounding the relationship between Spring Festival and Christmas is

fierce. Many scholars have discussed the controversial situation of Spring Festival and

the rise of Christmas in mainland China. Some scholars are threatened by the

popularity of Christmas in wide areas of China, fearing that the more young people

prefer Christmas, the less they care about traditional festivals.

This chapter first provides an overview of these two festivals. It describes the

origin of Spring Festival in China and the ways in which it has been celebrated. The

second section then introduces Christmas and provides a brief history of the

development of this holiday in China. Section three focuses on outlining the scholarly

debate concerning these two holidays and their relationship in contemporary China.

The final section introduces many scholars who have written about the so-called

decline of Spring Festival and speculated on why this change is occurring. My

study speaks directly to this literature and challenges some of its assumptions and

findings.

2.1 Spring Festival in China

Spring Festival is the most significant traditional Chinese festival. Its history spans

over 4,000 years. Its celebration is intended to bring bliss and good luck in the coming

year. Normally, the Chinese government requires that people have seven days off for

the Chinese Lunar New Year.

The reasons why the Chinese celebrate Spring Festival vary from time to time, region

to region. According to Ma (1982), "Guo Nian" is the celebration of humankind'svictory over a fierce wild beast named "Nian. In ancient times, "Nian was said to be

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the strongest and the fiercest beast in the world. It appeared and attacked people and

animals just after December. In the long process of fighting with "Nian, people

gradually learned of its weaknesses, such as its fear of the color red, big sounds, and

flames. One year, they stuck red cutting paper on their doors, constantly beat drums

and gongs, lit firecrackers and kept the lights on all night. Nian was frightened away

and never appeared.

Another account of why people celebrate Spring Festival is that, living in an ancient

agricultural society, people were largely unaware of astronomy and geography, so

they put all their faith in the gods, sacrificing to them so as to assure a good harvest.

They decided to use winter to hold this ceremony after a harvest festival in autumn to

express their gratitude for the previous harvest and extend their wishes for the coming

year ( X. F. Wang 2006).

Since ancient times, Spring Festival has offered a chance for the family to get together,

strengthening communication between family members through the shared rituals of

sacrifice and sharing the fruits of the harvest. In fact, Spring Festival in contemporary

China is similar to that of the past. People who are far away from home, working or

studying in other cities or countries, take the festival as an opportunity to return and

celebrate with their families.

As Spring Festival has a 4,000-year history, it has a variety of customs which have

continued circulating; for example, people set off firecrackers, write New Years

couplets, have big reunion dinners on New Year's Eve, paste paper-cuts, buy new

clothes and so forth. In many cities, people will perform lion or dragon dances or

walk on stilts. Houses are cleaned thoroughly before the New Year; and treats such as

Chinese bacon, sausage, and dumplings, as well as Tang Yuan and Nian Gaoa rice

cakesfilled with eight treasures symbolizing reunion, prosperity, completeness and

healthare prepared.

15

Additionally, Spring Festival Gala is one of the most important programs on New

Years Eve, which is broadcast by CCTV (China Central Television) and lasts 5 hours.People always watch this program with their families after dinner. Around midnight,

official fireworks are set off in almost every city at the same time. People usually go

outside and enjoy this exciting festival atmosphere together. In the following days ofSpring Festival, people usually put on new clothes and visit their elderly friends and

relatives with New Year gifts in tow. Young people usually send their best wishes for

the old and then get lucky money in return. For most children or young people,

being given lucky money is the most appealing and welcomed Spring Festival

tradition.

However, as the previous chapter has stated, with the introduction of modernization,

Westernization, and globalization, the Chinese quality of life and values concerning

festivals have begun to change, little by little. In the past, for most middle-aged and

older people, Spring Festival was the most fantastic festival of the year, because they

could eat some of the sweets and meats which they could not afford normally. But

now, with the development of the modern society, improvement of material life, and

the introduction of Western spiritual life, the Chinese have begun celebrating Spring

Festival in new ways. For example, they take this long holiday to go travelling with

family or friends, young people go to karaoke after the reunion dinner, and the

traditional New Years dinner is often no longer even prepared at home; instead, many

eat out. People send their wishes via mobile message, which is convenient, quick, and

cheap.

2.2 Christmas in China

As opposed to Spring Festival, Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrating the birth

of Jesus Christ, who is thought to have been born between the years 7 B.C. and 4 B.C.

(Weiser 1952:18). Christmas is the time when Christians around the world celebrate

16

the birth of Jesus; they hold the "mass, or church service, for Christ every year in

December. That is why this time of year is called Christmas, a world from the Old

English term Christes Maesse (Christ's mass). The first recorded observance occurredin Rome in 360 A.D., but it was not until 440 A.D. that the Christian Church fixed the

date, December 25th, for celebration, with a Christmas dinner for the whole family.

According to Myers (1995), Yule fires, holiday feasts, visiting friends, decorating aChristmas tree, attending church services, watching the choir, sending Christmas

cards and exchanging gifts, and watching parades with floats and cartoon characters

are the main celebration activities for people. Christmas celebrations tend to bring

most people home to be with family and friends (Myers 1995:529-536). So in thisway, Christmas is very similar to Chinese Spring Festival.

The arrival of Christian missionaries in China has been traced back to 625 A.D. The

first base they set up was in Xi An (an ancient capital of Shan Xi province). In thatbase, several specimens of contemporaneous art depicting Christianity-related

phenomena, such as Nativity scenes, have been found. Though originally developed

as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas today is a global event that, in

China, tends to transcend religious beliefs ( L. Li and G. Zhang 2010).

Sigley mentions in his article, "A Chinese Christmas Story," that "Chinese Christmas

is interconnected with Chinese political, economic and cultural domains (Sigley2007). He argues, first, that Christmas plays an important role in China's politicalsphere. The Chinese government welcomes Christmas, as it helps the Communist

Party of China to shift its emphasis from Marxist ideology to a combination of

nationalism and bread and circuses. However, Christmas also brings challenges and

pitfalls, especially as nationalism takes on an exclusionary form that looks upon

foreign influences as a threat to a core cultural identity. Thus, "there is an uneasy

political alliance between the ever-changing ideology of the party-state and the further

penetration of global capitalism in which the symbolics of Christmas represent a

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significant ideology fault line (Sigley 2007:92). Second, Christmas is an economicphenomenon; Christmas tells the tale of China's rapid economic growth and

increasing integration with the global consumer economy. The appearance of

Christmas indicates that the Chinese consumer economy has begun to integrate itself

with the consumption cycles of global capitalism (Sigley 2007:93). Third, Christmasis a cultural phenomenon in China. "It is an excellent case study of the tension

between the discourse of cultural nationalism and globalization as Westernization"

(Sigley 2007:93).

An addition to analyzing the relationship between Christmas and political, economic,

and cultural domains, Sigley also employed interviews to study the Christmas-related

behavior of people from both rural and urban areas. In the research of rural areas,

Sigley suggests that researchers pay sufficient attention to the silences and gaps

within the dominant discourse (Sigley 2007). In his research of urban areas, Sigleyexamines the characteristics of Christmas in the big city. He concludes first that

students are the main force in Christmas celebration. They really enjoy thedecorations, displays, and the general atmosphere of hustle and bustle (Sigley2007:97). Second, Christmas in China is not a family affair and it is generallycelebrated among friends, with an emphasis on the individual sense of pleasure. Third,

the most active and boisterous time for Christmas celebration is Christmas Eve and

not Christmas Day. Respondents indicated that they celebrate with specific acts of

consumption. Fourth, people manipulate Christmas iconography in ways unthinkable

in Western contexts (Sigley 2007:99). Therefore, Sigley uncovers, in part, theglocalization which is characteristic of Chinese Christmas.

Sigley's A Chinese Christmas Story inspires my research, as I am very interested in

cultural sociology and want to conduct research on Christmas in my hometown of

Guiyang, China, in order to explore its impact on young peoples connection to one of

the most important traditional festivals Spring Festival.

18

Sigley, through his comparison of a marginal ethnic community and a more modern

city, presents a relatively complete picture of Christmas in China. He portrays

Christmas as a complicated event in China which is related to economic, political, and

cultural dimensions. However, his research only focuses on Christmas; he neither

recognizes the relationship between Christmas and Spring Festival nor identifies the

impact Christmas has on Spring Festival. Sigleys research methods seem

one-dimensional; although he does conduct interviews, he does not use a survey

questionnaire. What's more, Sigley mentions that the celebration and visibility of

Christmas has attracted widespread media and public attention, and that there are

those who lament that Christmas is a form of cultural colonialism undermining

traditional Chinese festivals, especially Spring Festival (Sigley 2007:93), but he doesnot conduct any further research about it. Thus, it is useful to do further research on

this case.

2.3 The Relationship between the Two Festivals

Since the rise of Christmas has drawn attention from many scholars, the debate about

the link between these two festivals is becoming increasingly intense. There are three

main categories of contention. The first group thinks the popularity of Christmas

results in the decline of Spring Festival. The second group argues that there is a

complementary association between Christmas and Spring Festival. The third group

thinks the relationship between these two festivals is sometimes cooperative and

sometimes adversarial. The following section will discuss the ideas of these three

groups respectively.

The first group people regard Christmas as a threat to Spring Festival; they argue that

young people in contemporary China are xenocentric. He (2010) states that, with thewidespread nature of cultural globalization, there is an increase in cultural merging. In

this integration process, strong cultures may significantly impact weak cultures.

19

Sometimes, they even can transform a weak culture and create heterogeneity. She

contends that, especially in current society, Chinese culture has been influenced by

Western culture and is gradually losing its independence and traditions (He 2010).The decline of the traditional festival is reflected in the ignorance of young Chinese

people about traditional festivals and their passion for Western festivals. He (2010)thinks young Chinese people have blind faith in foreign festivals even without

knowing anything about them. More and more young people are interested in Western

festivals, like Valentines Day, Christmas, and April Fools Day. However, the young

people just celebrate these Western festivals thoughtlessly. He (2010) asserts that themore that people participate in Western festivals, the less they care about the

traditional festivals. Some of these people even forget about the origins of the Sping

Festival. Thus, she argues, the popularity of Western festivals is threatening Chinese

traditional festivals (He 2010). Therefore, according to He, Chinese Spring Festivalmay be threatened by Christmas through cultural globalization.

Jin (2005) concurs with He; she also thinks that Chinese traditional festivals havebeen threatened by Western festivals. She outlines her reasoning in four parts. First is

the political and economic reason. Since the Western economy is more developed and

China has had a long history of closed-door policies, when China first opened its

arms to the Western economic pattern, the Chinese accepted the accompanying

Western culture unconsciously. The second reason is commercial hype. With the

propaganda of commerce, the values and ideas of Western festivals have quickly

taken hold in people's minds. For example, people will prepare Christmas gifts for

friends and males will buy roses for their female partners. The third reason is the

popularity of learning English. As the use of the English language has increased in

popularity, the spread of English culture has also increased. The fourth reason is the

manner in which Western festivals are celebrated is more acceptable for young people

in a society which emphasizes simple amusements. People do not need to spend too

much time and money in preparing for a Western festival (Jin 2005).

20

Although Xue (2001) also recognizes the rise of Western festivals in China, she thinksthat Western festivals and Chinese festivals have a complementary relationship. Xue

disagrees with He, who thinks the process of cultural integration means a strong

culture threatening a weak culture. She regards this process as a cultural exchange.

She supports Chinese efforts to assimilate advantages of Western festivals and

develop their own traditional festivals. Meanwhile, Western festivals could

incorporate some merits from Chinese culture as well.

Xiofang Wang and Wenhua. Xiao (2005) agree with Xue that Western festivals andtraditional Chinese festivals can learn from each other, but they also suggest that there

is an adversarial relation between these two types of festivals. Therefore, the relation

between these two festivals is neither like what the first group nor the second group

contends. It is a combination of both complementary and antagonistic relations. They

assert that the popularity of Christmas confirms the success of China's Open Policy as

well as reflecting that China has really integrated into the world and opened its door

to the world culture. Meanwhile, traditional Chinese festivals have been introduced to

Western countries as well. For example, Spring Festival is becoming increasingly

popular in the United States. Nonetheless, they also consider Western festivals to be a

threat to Chinese festivals. Similarly, Chinese Valentines Day has weakened in recent

years. Instead, Western Valentines day is becoming more and more popular in China.

2.4 The So-called Decline of Spring Festival

Some scholars in the previous section declare that the rise of Christmas has weakened

Spring Festival, but others argue that their relationship could be bidirectional. It is

difficult to judge if Christmas is precisely the most important reason. Could there besome other factor that has led to the decline of Spring Festival? In the following

section, I list some articles which exhibit how scholars analyze the decline of Spring

Festival.

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2.4.1 Dysfunction of Spring Festival

According to M. Wang's study (2004), it is the dysfunction of tradition that weakensSpring Festival. First, in the past, people thought that Spring Festival was a good

chance to have a big meal and spend time with family. But now, with the

enhancement of living conditions, people can have great meals every day and they

give wishes via SMS, or e-mail family members or relatives instead of visiting them

in person (M. Wang 2004). Second, Wang believes that the spread of Western festivalshas intensified the indifference of the Chinese toward traditional festivals. Not only

do young people enjoy Western festivals, but middle-aged or old people are beginningto participate in them as well (M.Wang 2004). Finally, the author suggests that thedecline of Spring Festival is inevitable, and what the Chinese should do is absorb the

advanced and positive factors from Western festivals instead of only focusing on

Chinese traditional festivals. Meanwhile, she suggests we should try to develop the

positive factors of Chinese festivals (M. Wang 2004). Wang clearly states that theimportance of Spring Festival has weakened. She thinks the relationship between

Spring Festival and Western festivals is not a win-win arrangement, but rather one of

cause and effect.

This idea is similar to Hes assertions in the previous section, which hold that the rise

of Christmas results in the decline of Spring Festival. M. Wang (2004) claims thatsince the popularity of Western festivals is welcomed by more and more Chinese

people, some people have begun to snub the traditional Spring Festival. But is it true

that there is a cause and effect relationship between Western festivals and Spring

Festival? Could it be that they are just two separated cultural phenomena? If thiscause and effect relationship is real, is it true that Spring Festival is not as important

as before? Has Chinese interest in Spring Festival really declined? M. Wang provides

no answer in her article.

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2.4.2 Festival Transformation and Social Construction

In The Social Transformation in China and the Decline of Chinese TraditionalFestivals, J. Chen (2007) declares that the main factor which leads to the decline oftraditional festivals and culture is transformation of the social construction, as the

former is embed in the latter. He states traditional festival and culture are the result of

people's practice, so they cannot exist without society and social construction (Chen2007).

Chen (2007) says traditional festivals are the result of human practice and they cannotexist without social constructions and society. Just as Durkheim (2001) argues thatreligion is a formalized society and social values is the soul of religion, Chen

considers the traditional festival to be formalized society as well. He emphasizes that

people cannot analyse traditional festivals without considering their society and social

constructions. China is undergoing a transformation from an agricultural society to a

modernized industrial society, so the construction and function of the society have

changed too. Chen notes that Chinese traditional festivals are rooted in an agricultural

era which has been replaced by industrial society. Therefore, with the disappearance

of agricultural society, the decline of the traditional festival is a normal phenomenon.

He (2010) lists three reasons as follows:

First, with the rapid development of the economy and the increase in peoples

incomes, they can buy the food they want at any time, so "eating," which was the

most important thing during Spring Festival in the past, is now ignored. This point

has been mentioned by M. Wang above as well.

Second, with the processes of social atomization and development, celebration

activities are not limited to clan relations anymore. Friends and colleagues have

begun to participate in family celebration activities as well. However, many

traditional festivals cannot adapt to this social development, so the decline of this

traditional festival is inevitable.

23

Third, compared with Western festivals, which are more fun and romantic,

traditional festivals have closed-ended characteristics which are incompatible with

the industrialized and urbanized city.

Like Chen, He (2010) also ponders why Chinese traditional culture is weakening littleby little, and contends that the main reason is the transformation of society. She

asserts that Chinese society is under the process of transition from an agricultural

society into an industrial society, and as the times change, a festival which originated

from agricultural society changes as well (He 2010). She also lists threecharacteristics of Spring Festival which do not suit modern society. First, Spring

Festival originated in agricultural times, when people were poor and needed to spend

a long time preparing food. Second, Spring Festival serves to represent Chinese

culture. It is not only a festive activity for people to enjoy, it is usually closely relatedto Chinese geography, history, ethnicity, and humanity. Third, individual participation

in traditional Chinese festivals is not as emphasized as in Western festivals (He 2010).In addition, Western festivals are more modern than Chinese traditional festivals, so

they are accepted by Chinese people quickly and easily (He 2010).

While both scholars above think that social transformation resulted in the decline of

Spring Festival, I wonder if it is possible that Chinese people still prefer Chinese

traditional festivals over Western festivals, even as the social construction has

changed. Is it possible that the traditional Chinese festival remains vital, but just in anew form? Can we unearth the differences between the traditional celebration customs

and the new ways of celebrating Chinese traditional festivals? Unfortunately, neither

author provides us with answers.

2.4.3 Mismatch between Festival Characters and Psychological Satisfaction

Xue (2001) also thinks that young Chinese people are now obsessed with Westernfestivals. But as in her analysis of the relationship between Christmas and Spring

24

Festival mentioned in a previous section, she thinks it is the traditional character of

Spring Festival and the changes in young people's psychology that results in their

disinterest in traditional festivals. She claims that although both Western culture and

Chinese culture advocate humanism, Western humanism pursues individualism and

liberalism while Chinese humanism focuses on collectivism and a patriarchal clan

system. Western festival culture emphasizes interpersonal relations, especially the

relations between family and friends, while Chinese festival culture focuses on

collective activity (Xue 2001). This idea is corroborated by Wood, who points out thatmany Asian cultures emphasize harmonious and cooperative communication,

community, and the interdependence of people, whereas Western culture emphasizes

individualism and a greater degree of conflict and competition (Wood 2004:97-98).Thus, Spring Festival and Christmas originated and evolved on different soils and

they carry essentially different cultural meanings.

However, according to a survey by China Youth Daily in February 2001 (H, Jiang),when young Chinese people were asked "what is your dream?", 28% of them chose

success in a career, 27% wished to have a happy family, and 23% chose making a

contribution to society. It demonstrates that self-actualization and personal

development have become a necessity for many young Chinese people. These results

reconfirm Xues (2001) assertions that the Chinese are living in a society in transition

between ideologies. The old traditional culture which overemphasizes collectivism

cannot satisfy people's needs of reality; instead, it just bores them. The main reasonChinese people prefer Western festivals to traditional festivals is that Western

ideology has been introduced into China and accepted by young people. Chinese

young people cannot find this Western ideology which advocates individualism in any

Chinese traditional festivals (Xue 2001).

Although Xue (2001) puts forward a new reason to explain the decline of SpringFestival, which is different from previous authors' arguments in this section, she does

not give any data to support her statement. Is there a way to test her argument? Is it

25

truly the case that young Chinese people do not like the traditional Chinese Spring

Festival anymore because they have accepted Western ideology and values? Or is it

possible that, while Chinese young people do not participate in Spring Festival

physically, they do love Spring Festival psychologically, even as they accept some

Western ideology? All these questions need to be addressed in future study.

In summary, although there are a few scholars analyzing traditional Chinese festivals

and how they are influenced by Western festivals, many of them use qualitative

methods to analyze the situation. As I mentioned above, there are still some questions

waiting to be solved by further research and increasing the amount of convincing data.

Therefore, my project will incorporate the above areas of research to examine how wecan further understand the roles of the traditional Spring Festival and Chinese

Christmas. In addition, I will try to fill in the gaps left by previous research through

conducting both surveys and interviews.

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Chapter 3 Methodology and Methods

3.1 Research Design

As I discussed above, there is little empirical evidence to support many scholars

views about the supposed decline of Spring Festival and the rise of Christmas in

China. To better understand these phenomena, I conducted this research in my

hometown, Guiyang, with 178 young people. Guiyang is the capital city of Guizhou

province, which is the center of politics, economy, culture, science and education,

trade and business, traffic, and information within the whole province. It is one of the

most influential cities and the comprehensive traffic hub in the Southwestern parts of

China. Although the study in Guiyang cannot be generalized to the whole of China, it

does reflect Chinese people's reaction toward to Western festivals to a certain degree.

I chose young people in Guiyang as my research targets. First, they are the future of

the country, their values and perspectives regarding Western festivals and traditional

festivals can influence the development of both types of festival. Second, young

people are living in a modern society with many new things and advanced

technologies, so they are the group of people most easily influenced by Western

culture. Since the age of young people ranges from thirteen years old to twenty-five

years old, and it is hard to research people from different ages, I grouped young

people in my research into two categories. One group includes mostly students, who

are eighteen to twenty-two years old. The other group comprises those who are

twenty-three to twenty-five years old, most of whom have graduated from college and

begun to work.

To better understand the festival-related behaviors and perspectives of young people

in Guiyang, I designed my study with the following research questions:

27

What are the effects of globalization and Westernization on Spring Festival? In other

words, how has Spring Festival changed in the context of globalization and the spread

of Western festivals like Christmas? This main research question brings up several

more specific and related questions:

1. Has Spring Festival weakened?

2. Has the rise of the celebration of Christmas threatened the position of Spring

Festival?

3. Is it possible that Spring Festival retains its vitality, but just in another way?4. What are the actual changes in how Spring Festival and Christmas are celebrated?

5. How and why do young Chinese celebrate Spring Festival and Christmas

nowadays?

3.2 Research Methodology

The research methodology in this study consists of two approaches: quantitative and

qualitative. The reason I used mixed methods is that research results are more valid

and testable if data is collected by quantitative methods first and then verified by

qualitative methods. Additionally, since little empirical research has been conducted

regarding this topic before, it would be better to use mixed methods to get more

convincing research results.

This mixed methods strategy is also supported by Weisner (2005:260), who states thatmixed methods approaches to social inquiry are uniquely able to generate better

understanding in many contexts in comparison to studies that are bounded by a single

methodological tradition. Greene (2007:260) suggests that better understanding can befound through five distinct ways of mixing methods:

28

Triangulation seeks convergence, corroboration, or correspondence of results from

different methods, thereby enhancing the validity and credibility of inferences

Complementarity uses the different lenses of different methods to generate

elaborated and comprehensive understandings of complex social phenomenon

In development, the results of one method are used to inform the instrumentation,

sampling, or implementation of another method

Initiation invokes paradox through divergent results from different methods, and

the consequent generation of fresh insights from analytic engagement with this

dissonance

Expansion extends the conceptual scope and reach of the study by extending

methods choices to more than one methodological tradition, thus enabling

selection of the most appropriate method for each construct within an expanded

set of foci

Therefore, in order to get a comprehensive understanding of how young people in

China react to globalization and westernization, this study will not only focus on

collecting survey information from the respondents, but also on conducting interviews

to assist the validity of the research. Triangulation is the main way of combining

quantitative and qualitative research in this study. Bryman (2006:608) definestriangulation as "the traditional view that quantitative and qualitative research might

be combined to triangulate findings in order that they may be mutually corroborated.

Triangulation implies that the results of an investigation employing a method

associated with one research strategy are cross-checked against the results of using a

method associated with the other research strategy (Bryman 2006:611). Additionally,"it is an adaptation of the argument by writers like Webb et al. that confidence in the

29

findings deriving from a study using a quantitative research strategy can be enhanced

by using more than one way of measuring a concept" (Bryman 2006:611).

3.3 Research Methods

3.3.1. Survey

Reasons for Celebrating

The reason for celebrating serves as the independent variable for this study. Because

this is a case study with no follow up to determine the actual carrying out of

celebrations, motivations must be understood separately from actually celebrating both

festivals. This research will measure respondents reasons for celebrating these

holidays. Research on why young Chinese people choose to celebrate the specific

festival will be operationalized in the following ways:

1. Comparing Spring Festival and Christmas, which festival do you like best?

2. Why do you celebrate Christmas? Why do you celebrate Spring Festival?

Ways of Celebrating

How people celebrate serves as the dependent variable made up of multiple identifiers.

Way of celebrating consists of two important parts:

1. The people with whom one celebrates.

2. The location of celebration.

In addition to the traditional way of celebrating Spring Festival, some new forms of

celebration have arisen; for example, hanging out with friends or visiting colleagues.

Social networks play an important role in the process of social change, which results

in changes in the way people celebrate festivals. These social networks may be

informal through friendship and kin networks, or more formal through participation in

30

associations or member-based activities. Unlike in ancient China, where family was

the core of one's life, and parents, siblings and other relatives were the key members

with whom we celebrated festivals, todays young people think co-workers,

colleagues and friends are also important (M. Wang 2004). They think their jobs,businesses, salaries or even future careers are closely related to socialization and

many of them hope to use this special festival as an opportunity to show their

gratitude or try to build a good social network. Therefore, they spare the time to

celebrate Spring Festival or Christmas with these people, which results in changes in

the traditional ways of celebrating (He 2010). The way of celebrating Christmas alsohas diverged from the Western tradition. In place of family, friends and partners are

the new types of people with whom young people celebrate Christmas.

The place of celebration is not confined to the home anymore. In contrast, many

public places of entertainment have become very popular. Christmas has made itself

quite visible. Most of the major department stores, retail centers, and hotels festoonthemselves with decorations in the lead-up to Christmas. Christmas Eve is a majornight of consumption, when nightclubs, hotels, restaurants, and so on, hold Christmas

parties (as Christmas is not a state-designated holiday, Christmas Day is business asusual for most people). Some even noted that they would prefer to have a romanticdinner with a partner (Sigley 2007:99). Although some people like to stay at home onChristmas Eve rather than go out to enjoy the general atmosphere of hustle and bustle,how many of them actually participate in family Christmas celebrations is still a

question.

Therefore, way of celebrating is measured in a variety of variables as follows:

1. Involvement in traditional celebration activities

2. Involvement in visiting friends or colleagues

3. Involvement in some new forms of celebration

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3.3.2 Interviews

I chose twelve respondents for interviews after they had finished the web survey. A

semi-structured survey guide was prepared prior to entry into the field, which included

the following areas for question and discussion:

1. Is there a Christmas celebration in Guiyang every year? What does it look like?

2. What do young people usually do for Christmas celebrations? With whom do these

young people prefer to celebrate Christmas?

3. Are these young people religious? Are they aware of the origin of Christmas? Do

they really know how Western people celebrate it in Western countries?

4. What do they think about the Christmas atmosphere in Guiyang? What do they

think about people's behavior in regards to Christmas celebration?

5. How do they celebrate Spring Festival in Guiyang?

6. Are there any ways in which they celebrate differently from their parents?

7. Comparing Spring Festival and Christmas, which festival do they like better?

8. Compared to 10 years ago, how has the manner of celebrating Spring Festival

changed?

3.3.3 Sampling Techniques

I designed the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews according to my research

questions. 178 questionnaires and 12 interviews were completed by individuals via

the Internet. The research subjects include two groups of young people in Guiyang.Since the ages of the respondents were not equal, I evenly divided interviewees into

two groups according to their age. Six of them are eighteen to twenty-two years old,

and six are twenty-three to twenty-five.

Appendix I is the finalized web survey, Appendix II is the interview guide. All

interview questions serve as guides only. The semi-structured format allowed me to

ask follow-up and probing questions during interviews, depending on the informants

situation.

32

Survey Sample

An online survey sample was drawn from 178 young people in Guiyang. I posted the

link of my web survey on all of my social networking sites; for example, my blog,

Twitter, Instant Messenger, MSN, et cetera, and asked my friends to forward my link

to others who qualified, that is, who were local and eighteen to twenty-five years old.

It took altogether 18 days for me to finish the online survey.

The respondents occupations cover various fields: Management, Finance, Education,

Architecture, Agriculture, IT, Media, Tourism, Logistics and others. Meanwhile, if

informants were students, they could choose their major as follows: Management,Finance, Education, Architecture, Sociology, Linguistics, Agriculture, Media, IT and

others. Additionally, they could choose different religious and ethnic backgrounds. I

think the more people of different backgrounds covered in the sample, the more

representative the sample becomes.

Interview Sample

The web survey was followed up by qualitative interviews conducted with twelve

individuals who had previously participated in the survey. I chose the respondents

based on their age, occupation and their time available for an interview. Half of each

age group are students and half are working. I made an appointment with the

interviewee one or two days prior to the interview. Interviewees usually chose to be

interviewed in the evening in their time zone (afternoon in the Czech time zone).

The interviews were semi-structured and open-ended, offering the respondent an

opportunity to tell their story and to add greater depth to the researchers understanding

of past and contemporary Spring Festival celebrations and perspectives toward the

celebration of Christmas in China.

33

3.4 Data Analysis

Informal analysis of relevant documents gathered from the Internet and news releases

assisted in providing background materials with which to describe the celebration

events for both festivals. Since this study included some background research about

the origin, tradition, customs, and culture of the festivals, the online information and

materials were very useful.

My survey data were analyzed using SPSS statistical techniques. Since most of my

survey consisted of nominal variables comprised of categories that cannot be rank

ordered, I chose to conduct a univariate method of analysis and statistical significance

to analyze data. Bar charts and pie charts were compiled to demonstrate the

relationships between variables, as they can present the results most clearly and

intuitively. Diagrams are among the most frequently used methods of displaying

quantitative data. Their chief advantage is that they are relatively easy to interpret and

understand (Bryman 2004:324). Additionally, I used Chi-square and Cramer's V to

test the significance between variables, as "Chi-square allows us to establish how

confident we can be that there is a relationship between the two variables"; but "the

chi-square value means nothing on its own" and " it can be meaningfully interpreted

only in relation to its associated level of statistical significance" (Bryman2008:334-335).

As for the interviews: First, I created two groups: one for people 18 to 22 years old,

and one for people 23 to 25 years old. Second, I asked interview questions according

to my interview guide. Since it is a semi-structured format and informants could give

me additional information during the interviews, I used both note-taking and

recording to make sure I collected as much information as possible. Third, after I

finished each interview, I transcribed my taped recordings and notes from the

interview as quickly as I could. Richards (2005:88) explains: "descriptive codingrefers to store the information about the speaker," "topic coding is about what topics

34

are being discussed in this passages," and "analytical coding is the central to

qualitative enquiry. This is the coding that leads to theory 'emergence' and theory

affirmation." I combined "descriptive", "topic" and "analytical" coding together

during coding. Issues relating to my research question were highlighted; I analyzed

why and how young people celebrate Spring Festival and Christmas and what their

reasons for celebrating were. Fourth, summaries concerning research questions were

made. Finally, summaries were further incorporated into a narrative and inclusive

theories emerged in response to the research questions.

35

Chapter 4 Spring Festival Preferences among Chinese Young People

In order to examine whether Spring Festival is being neglected by young people in

contemporary China, there are four main topics which should be discussed:

1.Do young people prefer Spring Festival or Christmas?

2. Are they aware of the origin of Spring Festival?

3. How do young people celebrate Spring Festival nowadays?

4. What is the main reason they celebrate Spring Festival?

4.1 The Role of Gender and Age

In order to analyze how young Chinese people view Spring Festival and Christmas,

the first thing to find out is which festival they prefer. Considering that the sample

covers young people of different genders and ages, the following section compares

young Chinese people's preferences toward Spring Festival and Christmas based on

gender and age.

Figure 4.1 Preference for Festival by Gender

36

Figure 4.2 Preference for Festival by Age

The bar chart 4.1 shows that the majority of informants (73% of males and 71% offemales) choose Spring Festival as their first choice and that a similar proportion ofboth groups (24% of males, 26% of females) like both festivals equally. However,only 3% of both males and females prefer Christmas to Spring Festival. The

surprising finding shown in this chart is that both sexes have similar percentages in

each category. This result runs contrary to the common idea that women are bearers of

tradition. In addition, it is clear that the proportion of people who like Spring Festival

in both groups is approximately triple the proportion of people who like both Spring

Festival and Christmas equally. Furthermore, the number of people who like both

festivals equally is an overwhelming 8 times the people who only prefer

Christmas.The proportion who prefer Spring Festival is about twenty-four times the

proportion who prefer Christmas.

Similarly, it can be seen in figure 4.2 that in both age groups the percentage that

prefers Spring Festival is higher than the other two options (55% of 18 to 22-year-olds,82% of 23 to 25-year-olds). The proportion of those aged from 23 to 25 who preferSpring Festival (82%) is about 5 times than the proportion with equal preference forboth festivals (16%) and an astounding forty times the proportion who preferChristmas (2%). In contrast, the proportion of the younger group (18 to 22-year-olds)who prefer Spring Festival (55%) is only slightly higher than those with an equal

37

preference for both festivals (40%) and about 10 times the proportion who preferChristmas (5%).To determine whether age had an effect on the festival preferences.We evaluate the preference of Spring Festival and Christmas for both ages. According

to Chi-square analysis, there was a highly significant association betweenage and

festival preferences. X2(2)=15.84, P

38

with 3 days off, Labor Day with 3 days off, the Dragon Boat Festival with 3 days off,

Mid-Autumn Festival with 3 days off, and National Day with 5 days off. Obviously,

Spring Festival is the longest vacation of the year, and there is no day off for

Christmas.

Accordingly, for those who are usually very busy and have no time for family or who

are studying or working away from their hometown, Spring Festival provides a

chance to go home and see family and friends.

I am always very busy with work; sometimes, I even have to work onweekends and on some national holidays. Although I would like to hang outwith friends during Spring Festival, I think I should spend time with myparents, because it is the only long vacation in the year that I can stay at home.(Interview with a 25-year-old male civil servant, 26 March 2012).

Although Spring Festival still takes a significant position among festivals for both age

groups of young people, there is still a potential for change among younger people (18to 22 years old) who nowadays seem to accept Western culture and festivals morethan the older ones (23 to 25 years old). Certainly, there could be several explanationsfor this phenomenon, but the findings of my study point to two main reasons: The first

reason is that most respondents who are 18 to 22 years old are still in college; they

have much more time to celebrate Western festivals. For many people who are 23 to

25 years old, there is not time to celebrate those western festivals. Especially those

people who have to work on Christmas might be not be interested in Christmas after a

full day of work. One female accountant stated that, I used to go out with friends to

enjoy the Christmas festival when I was in university, but now after a whole day'swork, I feel so exhausted. Instead, I would like to choose to stay at home to watch TV

programs and relax (Interview with a 24-year-old salesgirl of a clothing shop, 23March, 2012).

39

Second, there is no doubt that younger people are living in an era of increasingly rapid

changes and up-to-date information. These ever-changing days cultivate younger

people who have a strong ability to adapt to new environments with a steady flow of

new technology, new culture and new ideologies, and the ability to critically judgeunfashionable and unchanging things. "Sometimes, I feel tired of Spring Festival

celebration. Because we prepare and celebrate it in the same way with same people

every year. I know it is our tradition so we should keep it, but it never changes so it

becomes not that attractive for me gradually" (Interview with an 18-year-old malestudent. 21 March, 2012).

As He (2010) notes, traditional festivals and traditional culture originated inagricultural society; they are the result of people's practical activity and they are

mutually reflexive. In ancient China, due to the infiltration of Confucian culture, clan

relations were introduced into the traditional festival (He 2010). People regard thepatriarchal system, which is fundamentally based on kinship, as a festival cultural

characteristic (He 2010). Since many festivals in China are based on family or thepatriarchal system and people are always linked by their blood lines instead of a

preference for the traditional culture, the way people usually celebrate festivals is to

stay with family and celebrate it together (Jin 2005). But some young peoplecomplain about this traditional manner of celebration:

I usually stay with my parents after the reunion dinner and then watch the NewYear Gala, which is very boring for me. Actually, I do not know what else Ican do on that day. It seems not good if I hang out with friends on that night,first, some of them may have to stay at home and accompany family members.Second, parents would blame me and think I am not a good boy because Idon't want to stay with them (Interview with a 25-year-old technician in astate-owned enterprise, 25 March, 2012).

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4.2 Basic Knowledge

From the above analysis, it seems clear that the young Chinese people in my study

like Spring Festival much more than Christmas, especially those who are not studying

and working in their hometown, as Spring Festival provides a good chance for these

people to return home and visit family. Thus, family reunion is the most important

reason for young people who are partial to Spring Festival. These findings are

reinforced by responses to another survey question: Compared with Christmas, what

is the biggest advantage of Spring Festival? In answering this question, the majorityof people chose Strengthening communication with family members. Spring

Festival has a long history took second place. As young Chinese people put festival

history as the second most important reason after family reunion, how much they

actually know about Spring Festival is worth discussion. Is it true that most Chinese

young people only know Western festivals, for example, Christmas, Valentines Day,

but they don't know when Chinese Valentine's Day, Tomb-sweeping Day are; they

know Christmas trees, roses and chocolate, but do not know why people celebrate

Mid-autumn Festival or Spring Festival" (Jin 2005)?

As it is difficult to evaluate how much young people know about Chinese traditional

festivals in the big picture, I took Spring Festival as an example to explore people's

knowledge about its origin and test if the declarations of scholars such as Jin are true

or not.

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Figure 4.3 What is origin of Spring Festival?

In the pie chart you can see that the survey offered two choices. One is the right

answerkeeping devils away and praying for a fruitful harvest year; another is a

misleading optionfamily reunion. The proportion of people who chose the correct

answer is 77%, and 23% of the total number of people thought the aim of celebrating

Spring Festival at the beginning is for family reunion. Thus, the number of young

people who know the origin of Spring Festival is overwhelmingly larger than those

who gave the wrong answer. This is a strong argument against those scholars who

think Chinese young people do not know why people celebrate Spring Festival.

However, faced with the difference between these two options, some possible

explanations could be laid down. The most reasonable explanation could be that

family reunion has been regarded as the theme of Spring Festival in contemporary

China. As Spring Festival is the only long holiday for the Chinese in a year, many

people take this valuable chance to go home to see their family and friends, especially

those migratory workers who have left their hometown for a long time and have to

continue working in another city. Since the number of people who want to take

transportation back home is so much larger than the amount of transportation tickets

available, whether these people can buy a ticket successfully is of great concern to the

mass media, such as newspapers, news reports on television, et cetera. As a result,

many young people may think the aim of the celebration is family reunion. Certainly,

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it is also possible that when the young people answered this question, they did not pay

attention to the answers, they just chose whichever answer came to their mind first.

Nevertheless, the fact that nearly a quarter of my respondents didn't know the origin

of Spring Festival, strengthening knowledge about Chinese traditional festivals while

providing Chinese young people with a more complete picture of Western festivals

still seems necessary. He (2010) suggests that in such an age of cultural integration,we should strive to maintain traditional Chinese culture in the face of a Western

cultural onslaught; additionally, we should help young people to know more about

traditional Chinese culture and direct them to learn the strengths of Western culture

(He 2010).

4.3 Celebration Ways and Intentions

If studying young people's festival preference and their basic knowledge about Spring

Festival is the first step for this research, then the following two sections serve to

further strengthen the understanding of people's attitudes toward Spring Festival. The

analysis in these two sections is necessary and significant for protecting and

developing Spring Festival. The first section is about how young Chinese people

celebrate Spring Festival. It exhibits four main ways of celebrating and explains why

people choose them. The second section is about people's reasons for celebrating

Spring Festival which corresponds with the section on reasons young Chinese people

celebrate Christmas in the next chapter.

The following section focuses on how young Chinese people in Guiyang celebrate

Spring Festival. Through studying their ways of celebration, we can learn more about

their viewpoint on this traditional festival.

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Figure 4.4 How Do You Usually Celebrate Spring Festival?

The most common way for young Chinese people in Guiyang to celebrate Spring

Festival is by having a reunion dinner with family, and watching the New Year Gala

(61%). This most popular way is actually the most traditional way to celebrate SpringFestival. This option is 3 times more common than hang out with friends (22%), 6

times more common than visiting friends and colleagues (10%) and 10 times more

common than travel with family (6%). In addition, the results of two of my survey

questions corroborate this phenomenon; 97% of young informants celebrate Spring

Festival every year, and a substantial number of them (97%) have a family reuniondinner at home. Therefore, celebrating Spring Festival in a traditional way is still the

mainstream.

However, it must be admitted that many people are excited about the new methods of

celebration and some "traditional" ways may be losing their significa