2. Literature Review

The researches on cultures of traditional festivals have been one of the key points for the scholars in recent years. At present, with regard to the study on festivals cultures of different nations, the scholars carrying out research mainly focus on introducing the specific contents of festival origins and customs. Such as Zhang Haiying’s The Chinese Traditional Festival Cultures, Duli’s The Festival Customs and Diet between China and West, Fu Demin’s The Eight Major Traditional Festivals in China, etc. 

Some harbor the idea that the traditional festivals are the important carrier of reflecting a country’s culture. As the essential constituents in nation’s cultures, traditional festival cultures have the common characteristics. In terms of the studies on the common characteristics, the scholars carrying out research mainly resort to the method of analogy in the comparison between the specific Chinese and American traditional festivals. In Li Mi’s Comparative Study on Important Festivals between China and Western Countries, she believed that Chinese Spring Festival and American Christmas Day both express affection and happiness between family members, Chinese Tomb-sweeping Day and Western Halloween both express the worship of human life and idea of natural harmony, and Chinese Qixi Festival and Western Valentine's Day both express the loyalty to love and romance to lovers. (Li Mi, 2006: 78-82) In Ziyin’s On Chinese and Western Cultural Differences from the Traditional Festivals, Chinese Qixi Festival is similar to the western Valentine’s Day, and Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival is similar to American Halloween. (Li Ziyin, 2007: 173-174)源'自:优尔`!论~文'网www.youerw.com

However, many scholars such as Zhang Chengping, Wan Weishan carrying out research on the study of the differences in the Chinese and American traditional festival cultures, the main points of view are as follows: traditional festival cultures in China and America have different cultural backgrounds. Chinese traditional holiday cultures have the features of pantheism and secularity, but the American traditional festival cultures have the characteristics of religion. In Universality and Compatibility between Cultures-Cultural Differences and Social Identification of Chinese and Western Traditional Festivals, the viewpoint of Zhang Chengping and Wan Weishan is that traditional festivals in China strongly reflect pantheism while American traditional festivals are mainly religious festivals. (Zhang Chenping & Wan Weishan, 2002: 64-69) In Kou Fuming’s On Chinese and Western Cultural integration in terms of the Prevalence of Foreign Festivals, he thought that Chinese traditional Festivals are set on the basis of the changing of seasons, such as Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Qixi Festival. Some of the major American traditional festivals such as Valentine's Day, Christmas Day and Thanksgiving, and Halloweens all originate from region, namely, Christianity. (Kou Fuming, 2006: 112-114) The standpoint of Li Mi in her Comparative Study on Important Festivals between China and Western Countries is that the striking differences in Chinese and American festival cultures result from the different perse beliefs. Moreover, she also believed that the religious feature is obvious while the most significant cultural characteristic in traditional festivals of China is secularity. (Li Mi, 2006: 78-82)