NATIONAL culture can display itself in various ways, among which none is more representative than activities to celebrate national festivals.

Actually, there are lots of festivals in each nation, but only the grandest ones can draw the attention of all the people - for instance, the Spring Festival in China. Here, we will take a look on how Shanghainese spent the New Year in the past and what kind of wonderful activities were held during those days.

It was said that all supernatural beings would return to the world of man on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, so every family cleared up their houses and put things in order on that day according to the tradition, which could be seen as a mass sanitary movement since every household was very serious about it.

People busily made arrangements for the coming of the Spring Festival, preparing sufficient food, buying new clothes and shoes and attaching Spring Festival couplets to both sides of their doors.

During that period, on the one hand, businesspeople did their busiest trade because their goods sold especially well, but on the other hand, they had to settle their accounts for the year. Consequently, a group of debt-collectors appeared to demand payments.

Although some people were ready to clear their debts on the spot, others couldn't pay their debts on time. Charged with important tasks, debt-collectors often pursued such debts vigorously, even working through the night.

For people who tried to escape their debts, New Year's Eve was crucial, since at that time the debt-collectors had to end their work, since demanding repayments of debts on New Year's Eve was regarded as bad luck. Thus, debt-collectors and debtors played cat-and-mouse with each other until New Year's Eve.

Generally speaking, people were full of joy, except for the poor debtors mentioned above. The climax of New Year's Eve came at night when family members, no matter from how far away they were, could arrive home to enjoy a reunion family dinner, which would last for a long time.

In the daybreak, men and women, young and old would wear their new clothes and offered sacrifices to their ancestors. Then young children paid New Year calls on their parents, who would give them gifts of money they had prepared earlier.

After the first day of the first lunar month, it was time for people to visit relatives. Wherever they were, seniors had to give money to juniors. For families in financial straits, this could be a real burden.

However, by the time of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in Shanghai, many forms of social intercourse during the New Year holidays had been simplified to save on expenditures.

People also celebrated the Spring Festival with different kinds of outings and entertainments. The most frequently visited places were the City God Temple and the Yuyuan Garden.

The moon finally became full on the night of the 15th of the first lunar month. Among feasting on sweet dumplings surrounded by beautiful lanterns, the Spring Festival closed its curtain on the departing year.

(The author is from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences)