奇速英语

Zhong Yuan Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh lunar month. It is also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival. Traditionally, people call it the Ghost Festival because they wanted to honor their ancestors.
In many Chinese folk customs there is a traditional virtue of filial piety (孝道). In Confucian teachings, filial piety is the most important of all virtues. Filial piety embodies kindness, conscience and caring whether towards the living or the deceased. Filial piety is the driving force behind the Zhong Yuan Festival.
On the Zhong Yuan Festival there are customs such as Zhong Yuan ceremonies, worshiping three gods, floating river lanterns, lighting lotus lanterns, sending sheep made out of flour and worshiping ancestors.
It is popular for uncles to send sheep to their nephews in the rural areas of North China on the Zhong Yuan Festival. It is said that this custom is related to the legend of Chen Xiang who broke the mountain and rescued his mother. Chen Xiang wanted to hunt down his uncle who had abused his mother after he rescued his mother. In order to repair the relationships with his sister and his nephew, the God Erlang would send Chen Xiang a pair of sheep on the 15th of the seventh month every year. It is said “yang” (sheep) here is a phonetic pun (语音双关) that refers to the family name of the God Erlang and Chen Xiang’s mother. From then on the custom of sending sheep passed down. And then it turned into sending flour sheep.
In a document called Imperial Age Ji Sheng in the Qing Dynasty it said the Zhong Yuan is more valuable than Qingming Festival in terms of tombs-sweeping. People are delighted to see the sights of lush shadows of the trees, the crops growing and the cicadas (蝉) chirping. Common people are like this but the emperor is even more than that.
The inscription (碑文) called Yu Ling magic holiness inscription in East Qing Tombs said Emperor Qianlong had been treating his mother Sheng Xian with filial respect for 42 years. He greeted and served his mother every morning and night, holding her arm and arranging her carriage with deep respect and he served her in this manner throughout all her life.