The Spring Festival is less than a month away. The Spring Festival is the most valued festival in China. When did the Chinese Spring Festival begin? Do you know how long the Spring Festival has been up to now? Let's talk about the history of the Spring Festival.
'spring Festival 'is only 104 years old
The Spring Festival is one of the most important festivals for the Chinese people. But different from Western religious festivals, the Spring Festival is a year-old Festival formed and developed under the agricultural civilization. As for its origin, it is generally accepted that when Yu Shun ascended the throne, he led his subordinates to worship heaven and earth. In history, the Spring Festival was called Shangri and new year's day in Qin Dynasty, new year's day and new year's day in Han Dynasty, new year's day and new year's day in Wei, Jin, northern and Southern Dynasties, new year's day and new year's day in Tang and Song Dynasty, and new year's day and new year's day in Qing Dynasty. After the Republic of China, this festival gradually evolved into a national festival from Laba Festival to Lantern Festival.
In 1912, the Republic of China announced that January 1 of the Gregorian calendar was changed to "new year", but its implementation among the people was blocked. In January 1914, Zhu Qiqian, then head of the Ministry of internal affairs, in order to comply with public opinion, proposed that the Lunar New Year's day be designated as the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival as the summer festival, the Mid Autumn Festival as the autumn festival, and the winter solstice as the winter Festival. All citizens were allowed to rest, and public employees were allowed to take a day off. " With the approval of Yuan Shikai, the coexistence pattern of new year's day on the first day of the Gregorian calendar and Spring Festival on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar has been established. " Therefore, the Spring Festival we celebrate now is actually only 104 years old.
In the early days of the Republic of China, the government tried to move activities such as celebrating the new year, offering sacrifices to ancestors and pasting Spring Festival couplets to the new year's day of the Gregorian calendar, but the strong traditional consciousness of the people still retained these customs during the Spring Festival.
The three keynote speakers narrowed the research materials to the people's daily after new China, searched with the keyword "Spring Festival", and obtained a total of 370 reports. Although there are limitations, it also reflects from one aspect how the Spring Festival has changed in the past half century.
1949-1956: Spring Festival combined with publicity
"Eating" has always been an important element of the Spring Festival. The Chinese people's habit of accumulating food before the festival has made the "Spring Festival price rise" an iron law under the background of insufficient materials. However, Beijing seems to have broken this practice in 1951 and spent a spring festival of "price stability as usual", There are two reasons for this: first, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of industry and Commerce called on state-owned trading companies, cooperatives and relevant private businesses to purchase new year goods in various places and make preparations in advance; Second, the Ministry of trade has specially stipulated to stabilize prices during the Spring Festival. It can be seen that at this time, the government has begun to respond to the possible unstable factors during the festival.
However, the biggest feature of the Spring Festival in this period is that cultural and entertainment programs have been painted with a strong political color. Workers' and peasants' gatherings and military and civilian gatherings were two important forms in this period. Workers and farmers all over the country will have a grand get-together during the Spring Festival. Deng Jian pointed out that this kind of participatory rather than current viewing cultural and recreational activities makes people feel the taste of the new year more personally. The military civilian get-together is almost the only uninterrupted form of get-together since liberation.
During this period, almost every year's Spring Festival literary and artistic activities had a fixed theme. Without exception, this theme was related to political publicity: the publicity of the marriage law in 1953 and the general line in 1954. Although such publicity requirements did not resort to legal documents, those who failed to meet the standards would still be criticized. In 1952, the Spring Festival Performance of the Central Academy of drama was criticized because its program did not meet the needs of practical struggle, so the Academy of drama had to make a review.
1956-1966: break the routine to celebrate the Spring Festival
Now people often say 'spring transportation is difficult', in fact, as early as the 1950s, spring transportation was already difficult. In 1954, the state made it clear for the first time that the Spring Festival transportation time was one month before and after the Spring Festival. The Ministry of Railways established the 'Spring Festival passenger transportation office' to be on duty day and night. In 1957, the State Council issued a special instruction for the first time on doing a good job in the Spring Festival transportation, requiring enterprises and schools to mobilize employees and students to understand the difficulties of railway transportation. Those who can leave early, those who can leave late, and those who can not leave do not leave.
Solving the problem of Spring Festival transportation was combined with the "great leap forward" movement in 1958, which achieved the call to "break the routine and celebrate the Spring Festival." "Don't go home if you can't go home" has become a common consensus and slogan. Coal mines, water conservancy projects and government departments are the most thoroughly implemented industries. A 1959 report wrote that on New Year's Eve this year, the most lively was the construction site of the Ming Tombs reservoir. The labor songs of more than 27000 migrant workers, officers and soldiers, cadres and students resounded throughout the evening of new year's Eve.
In the 1960s, some old habits of extravagance and waste, money making and gambling made a comeback in society. At this time, the call to "celebrate the Spring Festival in the spirit of revolution" came accordingly, opposing worship of gods and ancestors, eating and drinking, and spending the festival in a healthy and frugal manner.
1966-1976: Revolutionary Spring Festival
This decade is a special period in the history of new China. In 1967, the State Council issued a notice of "no holiday for this year's Spring Festival". Since then, China has entered a "revolutionary Spring Festival".
The so-called "revolutionary Spring Festival" has three points in brief: first, we should "grasp the revolution and promote production". We should not go home during the Spring Festival, actively participate in production and labor, and turn winter leisure into winter busy; Second, all so-called "feudal customs" during the Spring Festival are prohibited, such as setting off firecrackers, burning incense and worshipping Buddha, dancing dragons and lions, kowtowing and paying New Year's greetings, etc; Third, it is not allowed to eat and drink, let alone play cards.
People are familiar with the Spring Festival custom, only the 'pasting Spring Festival couplets' has been retained, but the content is very different from the original greeting to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new year. The most distinctive one is' no armistice in the thirties, continue on the first day of the new year'.
At that time, the most typical scene of the Spring Festival was that a family sat around the statue of Chairman Mao for new year's Eve dinner. Before dinner, we should hold a family meeting to criticize private affairs. Parents will put down their airs and carry out mutual criticism and self-criticism with their children. Children can also 'shoot' at their parents.
Eating is still an important part of the Chinese new year, but what is popular in this period is not "eating well" but "eating badly". The canteens of units in cities and communes in rural areas will organize people to eat "think hard and sweet rice" -- adjust measures to local conditions, make what is difficult to eat and make what is difficult to eat, and cook porridge with wild vegetables, tree roots, corn paste, sweet potato stem and other things, in order to make everyone remember the "evil old society", Love the new society.
1979-1989: safe home and happy New Year
On January 17, 1979, the people's Daily published a letter from readers entitled "why not have a holiday during the Spring Festival", which was responded by all parts of the country. In 1980, the Spring Festival holiday system returned in an all-round way, followed by the Spring Festival transportation.
At the beginning of 1981, the number of passengers in the first two months reached 1.21; During the Spring Festival transportation in 1982, the number of passengers at Beijing station alone reached 5.32 million. Why there is such a large flow momentum, people often attribute it to a group - "blind flow", which means people who migrate from rural permanent residence to cities and have no stable jobs and permanent residence.
In 1984, the "No. 1 document" of the central government allowed farmers to take care of their own rations to work, do business and run enterprises in cities and towns. In the 1980s, four immigration circles were formed: the eastern coastal Beijing Tianjin Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region, the Pearl River Delta region, and Xinjiang region with excellent geographical location due to its rich minerals and convenient foreign trade. When these migrant workers return home for the Spring Festival, they often buy tickets and may not be able to get on the bus and go home. People often run at the station with large and small bags, and even many people climb into the carriage from the window before the train leaves. According to statistics, 880000 people returned home standing on the train in 1988. Safe holidays and safe home are also put forward in this context.
During this period, cultural and recreational activities during the Spring Festival were carried out in an all-round way. TV programs not only increased significantly, but also had rich themes. They were no longer limited to revolutionary education. More TV dramas close to life began to be moved to the screen. However, the most notable thing in 1980s is the first Spring Festival Gala in 1980s. No matter how people appreciate it or make complaints about it, the big meal has been with us for 31 years.
The economic situation is so good that people are no longer short of money to buy new year goods. In 1985, Beijing held the first spring festival Commodity Fair.
However, the abundance of materials and entertainment has not satisfied people for too long. On February 8, 1989, the people's Daily published an article entitled "the phenomenon of Cold Spring Festival and hot Christmas in Shanghai". Traditional festivals urgently need to find new forms and contents in the new era.
1990 present: going out and returning home
The key words of the new form are 'outside': going out for new year's Eve dinner and traveling.
In the 1990s, 'eating out' for new year's Eve became popular. In 1996, the Beijing municipal government put forward the slogan of "welcoming family banquets in 100 hotels, hanging colored lights in 100 shopping malls and celebrating the new year in 100 hotels".
In 1999, the State Council announced the new measures for national holidays and anniversaries, which spliced the rest time of the Spring Festival, may day and November with the two-day weekends before and after, so as to form a seven-day 'golden week'. The Golden Week tourism season was born.
The song "often go home and have a look" in the Spring Festival Gala in 1999 sounded the voice of many people. Going home and seeing the elderly reunite with their families in the Spring Festival has become a social appeal again. In 2013, the law on the protection of the rights and interests of the elderly was revised to officially incorporate "often go home and have a look" into the law. However, the taste of going home has gradually changed over the years. The red envelope gifts for the new year and the greetings and comparisons of relatives and friends have increasingly become a burden. The word "fear of returning to the family" came into being. When "love" gradually becomes "debt", it dilutes the original taste of the Spring Festival.
As a festival inherited from the farming society, people can always find a place to revel in the traditional small-scale peasant economic society. However, in different historical periods of new China, the Spring Festival has been kneaded and reshaped under the background of rapid industrialization and marketization.
Before the cultural revolution, the Spring Festival was a cultural ceremony under the tide of national revolution and production. All workers, farmers and soldiers participated in it. It was a "Big Spring Festival". Although the materials were poor, everyone was moved by the strong spring festival atmosphere. Since the late 1970s, the consumer market has been enriching the year, but it is also changing its taste. The "Little Spring Festival" in this period emphasizes that the family get together and share the happiness of their family, but going home has gradually become an embarrassing topic of "love and hate".