Traveler’s Song
—–Dedicated to all the mothers
The thread in the hands of a fond-hearted mother
Makes clothes for the body of her wayward boy;
Carefully she sews and thoroughly she mends,
Dreading the delays that will keep him late from home.
But how much love has the inch-long grass
For three spring months of the light of the sun.
This is a poem wrote by a famous poet named Mengjiao in Tang Dynasty in China, which
shows great love to his mother. In the world, maybe, love from parents’, especially
mothers, is the most unconditional and selfless. So there is no doubt that we all
love our mothers.
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However, we Chinese people are too shy to express our love very openly to our mothers, especially in the old days. Take me as an example, I have never told my mother I love her and I feel embarrassing every time when I’m trying to express my love. But in the western country, there is a mother’s day. On that day, children will express their loves to their parents by saying “I love you, mother”, sending flowers, carnation in particular,having dinner with their mothers. In their opinion, expressing love to their beloved mother is natural and necessary.
Mother’s Day was firstly celebrated in ancient Greece, and then gradually, the modern
one was developed in the USA. With the opening to the outside world, mothers’ day has
been owned and accepted by Chinese people in the coastal city firstly, then being
spread and become popular among inland China. Since then, every year, together with
people in other countries, the Chinese will celebrate Mothers’ day in the second Sunday
of May. But the Chinese celebrate this festival with their own unique ways, with more”
Chinese flavor”.
On that day, some people will send flowers (carnations or day lily) and cakes as presents to their mothers; some people will cook the meal themselves for their mothers. For the little kids, they will wash mother’s face and feet, play music, and draw pictures for their mothers. All in all, they will try every means to please their mothers. Besides, people will donate money to those mothers who have lost their children. Thanks to the setting of mothers’ day, we Chinese can express our love freely to our mothers and won’t feel embarrassed any more.
Many countries have their own Mother’s Day, not all in the May, thus, some Chinese people
are wondering why we do not set a Chinese Mother’s Day? On Nov. 13, 2006, Li Hanqiu, a
member of the National Committee of the CPPCC, proposed that Chinese should have our own
mother’s day and Mencius’ Mother can be the representative of Chinese mother. Lunar April
2, actually the birthday of Mencius, was confirmed as the Chinese mother’s day.
Why Chinese choose Mencius’ mother as the representative of great mother out of so many
great mothers?Firstly, Mencius’s mother is a historic personage, not a person from legend
or fairy tale. The story of her is reliable.
Secondly, compared with many other great mothers, Mencius’ mother left us more stories.
In the West Han Dynasty, the book Biographies of Exemplary Women, written by Liuxiang,
recorded a lot of stories about Mencius’s mother with details about educating Mencius
in different stages. Both the exterior environment and the interior study discipline
have been noticed by Mencius’s mother, which formed a systematic education thought and
method later. These stories can be learnt and be passed down from generation to generation.
Thirdly, many attractions left for worshipping Mencius’ mother. Mencius was born about
2379 years ago. Since Tang Dynasty, people will worship Mencius’s mother and many
historical relics had been left in successive dynasties, such as Mencius mother’s forest,
Temple of “Mencius mother moved three times”, the stele of “Mencius mother broke the
shuttle from the loom”, etc.
Fourthly, Mencius mother’s stories are widely known and have huge influence on the Chinese.
Among those five teaching stories about Mencius’ mother recorded by Liuxiang, “Mencius
mother moved three times” and “Mencius mother broke the shuttle from the loom” are
best-known by the Chinese.
Fifthly, the education result of Mencius’s mother is great. Mencius is a famous ancient Chinese thinker and educator in the Warring States period. His book, Mencius, inherits and carries the forward ideas of Confucius. His first teacher is his mother and his mother contributes a lot to his achievements.
