Sls Transfer2016 C3 02 E [618965]

2016 Hong Kong Educational Publishing Compan y
1 Module 3: Modern China
Diminishing of traditional customs
Traditional customs are vessels of traditional cult ures. Unfortunately, many traditional customs are d iminishing
in modern society. The table below shows a few exam ples of traditional customs in Hong Kong and China that
are still practised or have already diminished. The y will help students to better understand issues su rrounding
traditional customs and the common arguments for di fferent types of questions on this topic.

Hong
Kong Celebrating Dragon
Boat Festival Hong
Kong Lunar New Year
visits
Background Traditional Chinese celebrate
the Dragon Boat Festival with
dumplings, dragon boat races
and egg balancing. However,
Hong Kong people rarely
celebrate it on a large scale.
Also, eating too many traditional
dumplings is unhealthy.
Therefore, they only eat a little
bit of them. The tradition of
dragon boat races has changed
to international boat races,
which is completely different
from the meaning of
worshipping gods in ancient
times. Traditionally, people visit their
family members one by one
during the Lunar New Year. In
modern society, there are more
ways of New Year visits. Some
families organize one group visit
to save time or even replace visits
with greeting cards and mobile
phone greeting messages.
Complicated rituals /checkbld /checkbld
Challenges from foreign cultures /checkbld /checkbld Reasons for
traditional
customs to
diminish Not meeting the needs of
modern society /checkbld /checkbld
Less social constraint /checkbld /checkbld
More distant family relationships /checkbld /checkbld
Cultural homogeneity /checkbld /checkbld Impact of the
diminishing
of traditional
customs
Weaker cultural identity /checkbld /checkbld
Allocating
more resources
to conservation
work /checkbld /checkbld
Developing
culture-related
industries
(e.g. tourism) /checkbld /xmarkbld(N/A) Governments
Strengthening
education /checkbld /checkbld
Organizations Introducing
replacement /checkbld /xmarkbld(Difficult to do) Suggestions
Individuals Modifying the
rituals /checkbld /checkbld
Difficulty for the government to
set conservation standard /checkbld /checkbld
Organizations may distort
the original meanings of
traditional customs /checkbld /checkbld Difficulties in
the
conservation
of traditional
customs Difficulty in changing
people’s lifestyles /checkbld /checkbld
More updates

2

Hong
Kong Having moon
cakes at the
Mid-Autumn
Festival Hong
Kong Three letters and
six etiquettes in
weddings China Burning
firecrackers at
the Spring
Festival China Grave sweeping
at the Qing
Ming and Chung
Yeung Festivals
The Mid-Autumn Festival is
the 15th day of the eighth
month in the Lunar calendar.
Hong Kong people like
having moon cakes and
giving moon cakes to friends
and relatives as gifts. In
recent years, people become
more health-conscious and
are eating fewer moon
cakes, which have three
‘highs’ (high sugar and
cholesterol) and one low
(low fibre). This somewhat
weakens the festive mood. ‘Three letters and six etiquettes’
are wedding rituals in traditional
society. Because of their
complexity, people today have
abandoned most of the rituals and
keeping only three of the six
etiquettes, namely presentation of
the marriage proposal, formal
presentation of gifts to the bride’s
family and welcoming the bride.
Many Western elements have also
been adopted, such as bridal gown
and suits. Some couples even
choose to skip these steps and the
banquet by simply going through
the wedding registration. For a few thousand years,
people in China have been
burning firecrackers at the
Spring Festival. It is a
custom to farewell the old,
welcome the new and scare
away the ‘nian’ (year)
monster. The practice is
dangerous and worsens air
pollution. Therefore, the
government in some cities
like Beijing has encouraged
citizens to reduce burning
firecrackers in recent years. During the Qing Ming and
the Chung Yeung Festivals,
people sweep the graves of
their ancestors as an
expression of filial piety. In
recent years, new forms of
grave sweeping have
emerged. People can pay
people to sweep the graves of
their ancestors or ‘perform’
the ritual online. They no
longer have to visit their
ancestors’ graves personally.
/xmarkbld(No ritual involved) /checkbld /xmarkbld(No ritual involved) /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /xmarkbld(N/A)
/xmarkbld(N/A) /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /xmarkbld(Difficult to do) /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld
/checkbld /checkbld /checkbld /checkbld

Students can first grasp the common points listed o n the far left column by looking at the local cases , and then
extend the reasoning to China’ cases. Students can freely add more examples to enrich this table.

2016 Hong Kong Educational Publishing Compan y
3 Point Analysis
Students can tackle questions on the diminishing of traditional customs by examining the related reaso ns, impact,
suggestions and difficulties. There are common poin ts for various question types:

Topic: Reasons for traditional customs to diminish
Question
type Argument Explanation
Complicated
rituals Many traditional customs are too complicated and ar e incompatible with
the lifestyles and values of modern society. They a re not as important as
before.
Challenges from
foreign cultures Under globalization, Western cultures have an incre asing influence on
Chinese society. With the help of commercial packag ing, Western cultures
become ‘trendy’ and ‘fashionable’ products while Ch inese traditional
customs are ‘conservative’ and ‘obsolete’ in compar ison. Reasons
Not meeting the
needs of modern
society Economic efficiency and practicality are important in modern society.
People care less about the meanings behind traditio nal customs. A custom
that causes inconvenience is more likely to be aban doned. Modern people
also pay more attention to sustainable development and health. People
reject traditional customs that damage the environm ent and personal
health if they think the losses outweigh the signif icance of the customs.

Topic: Possible impact brought by the diminishing of trad itional customs
Question
type Argument Explanation
Less social
constraint Without having to follow traditional customs, peopl e can spend time and
energy on other things and choose their own lifesty les.
More distant family
relationships When family members are meeting each other less, th ey may become
more emotionally distant. A lack of family unity ma y weaken the
socialization function of families and family suppo rt for people.
Cultural
homogeneity As the number of people participating in traditiona l customs decreases,
traditional cultures may be lost. Western cultures may exert an even
greater influence on the lives of people from aroun d the world and reduces
cultural diversity. Impact
Weaker cultural
identity Traditional cultures are embedded in customs. A lac k of understanding of
traditions leads to weaker understanding of the his tory and culture of a
place. People may lose their identity as a result.

Topic: Suggestions on ways to conserve traditional custom s
Question
type Argument Explanation
Allocating more
resources to
conservation
work Hiring professionals and commissioning organization s such as
museums to conduct field research and record existi ng customs to
rescue and introduce them to the public.
Developing
culture-related
industries (e.g.
tourism) Promoting customs through the cultural industry suc h as cultural
tourism so that locals and tourists alike can exper ience these
customs. Govern
-ments
Strengthening
education Including traditional festivals in public and schoo l education to
promote understanding of traditional cultures among locals,
especially the younger generation.
Organ-
ization Introducing
replacement Improving the materials and foods related to tradit ional customs
so as to prevent damage caused by customs to the en vironmental
and health. Suggestions
Indivi-
duals Modifying the
rituals Making an attempt to understand the cultural meanin gs behind
customs before modifying them to meet their needs s o that the
customs can still be passed down to the next genera tion.

4 Topic: Difficulties in conservation of traditional custom s
Question
type Argument Explanation
Difficulty for the
government to set
conservation standard Most customs are intangible ideas that cannot be em boldened and
quantified, making it difficult for the government to set an objective
standard to decide which customs are worth conservi ng.
Organizations may
distort the original
meanings of traditional
customs When organizations introduce commercial elements in to traditional
customs, they may make the customs superficial and lose their
essence. The original intention to conserve the cul tural values of the
customs is lost. Difficulties
Difficulty in changing
people’s lifestyles Unless a custom hurts social interest, it is up to people to follow
certain customs or not. The government and organiza tions have no
rights to require people to practice or give up cer tain customs.

Skill Transfer

Topic: ‘Conservation work initiated by governments can pr event traditional customs from diminishing.’ To what
extent do you agree with this notion? Explain your answer. (6 marks)

Skills for answering questions about ‘justifying st ance’
‧ After stating your stance, justify it from differen t perspectives using the sources and your own knowl edge.
‧ Suggest and refute an opposite stance so that both pros and cons are discussed.

By looking at the work governments can do and the d ifficulties discussed in the previous pages, studen ts can
explain why work by governments alone cannot preven t traditional customs from diminishing

Stance: DISGREE that ‘Conservation work initiated b y governments can prevent traditional customs
from diminishing.’

Government’s
work Difficulties Explanation
Allocating more
resources to
preservation
work Difficulty for the
government to
set conservation
standard Governments can allocate more resources to
conserve traditional customs, but it is difficult f or
them to set a uniform conservation standard. Many
traditional customs are intangible ideas, so the
government cannot guarantee the outcome of its
conservation work.
Developing
culture-related
industries
(e.g. tourism)
Organizations
may distort the
original
meanings of
traditional
customs When governments develop the cultural industry,
some businesses may make use of the platform to
make money by introducing commodities related to
traditional customs and repackaging the customs.
These may make the customs lose their original
meanings. Therefore, government measures cannot
necessarily prevent traditional customs from
diminishing.
Strengthening
education Difficulty in
changing
people’s
lifestyles Governments can enhance conservation awareness
by strengthening public education. However,
education cannot change people’s habits in a short
time and some people may still not recognize the
values of traditional customs despite education. In
other words, there is no guarantee that education
can always help to preserve traditional customs.