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Kneeling filial son a reminder of Chinese tradition
Source: Xinhua |
July 19, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WHEN he celebrated his mother's 90th birthday on July 14 in his home village in Hunan Province, Zhou Qifeng, president of Peking University, fell on his knees in the tradition of a filial son.
The photo of Zhou on his knees, taken by people attending the birthday ceremony, has gone wild on the Internet since it was uploaded on Saturday evening. Some say it was staged, others say it was not.
Whatever, most people agree that Zhou's kneeling down before his mother served as a fresh reminder of China's traditional focus on filial piety. Indeed, in traditional Chinese culture, filial piety dwarfs all other personal virtues.
Zhou's emotional embrace of her mother, weeping as she was touched by her kneeling son, takes on added significance at a time when more and more elderly parents are left behind in dilapidated villages as their children abandon rural land for an urban life.
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, China has 40 million "empty-nest" seniors whose children live far away, an estimated 37 percent of all the elderly people living in the countryside.
The photo of Zhou on his knees, taken by people attending the birthday ceremony, has gone wild on the Internet since it was uploaded on Saturday evening. Some say it was staged, others say it was not.
Whatever, most people agree that Zhou's kneeling down before his mother served as a fresh reminder of China's traditional focus on filial piety. Indeed, in traditional Chinese culture, filial piety dwarfs all other personal virtues.
Zhou's emotional embrace of her mother, weeping as she was touched by her kneeling son, takes on added significance at a time when more and more elderly parents are left behind in dilapidated villages as their children abandon rural land for an urban life.
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, China has 40 million "empty-nest" seniors whose children live far away, an estimated 37 percent of all the elderly people living in the countryside.
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