A delegate to the National People's Congress (NPC) says his proposal to designate traditional festivals, such as the Tomb-Sweeping Day and Dragon Boat Festival, as legal holidays is being discussed by the State Council, China's cabinet.

NPC delegate Ji Baocheng, who is also President of China's Renmin University, told reporters Monday that he submitted his proposal to the annual parliamentary session again this year in order to urge lawmakers to speed up the process of consideration. It is the third time he's brought his proposal to the NPC.

"During the past two years," he says "the proposal of fixing traditional festivals as legal holidays has been warmly received by the public. Implementation of the proposal is being anticipated by many people."

Ji Baocheng says in his proposal that China can afford to add four new legal public holidays, New Year's Eve, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid Autumn Day. His assessment is based on the current state of the country's economic development and what he sees as the shortage of holidays in China.

He points out that traditional holidays are being ignored by young people nowadays. Many of them focus instead on western festivals such as Valentine's Day. Designating some traditional festivals as legal holidays would provide more time for people to experience Chinese history and culture and strengthen national unity.

(CRI.com March 15, 2006)