Today, the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, marks the start of the Duanwu Festival.

Like many Chinese, I have mixed feelings about it.

Instead of the hustle and bustle that used to herald the occasion, in recent years the festival has faded from our lives, especially in cities. While in some parts of the country the rituals for the occasion have been preserved to some extent, there is a worrying trend that an increasing number of young people know less and less about it, let alone celebrate it and associate it with Chinese culture.

But on the other hand, my interest in the Duanwu Festival was magnified by last month's reports that our neighbour, the Republic of Korea (ROK), was allegedly applying to list the festival in the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Before the real story surfaced, a lot of enraged Chinese vented their anger over the issue through media and the Internet. The prevailing view was that, since the Duanwu Festival originated in China, it was not the South Korean place to file such an application. Of course, there were also more rational and less nationalistic voices that suggested we should share the heritage with our neighbour and protect it together.

Then it was subsequently revealed that the alleged South Korean application was a false report, and the so-called festival in Korean context looks different from the Chinese one despite its Chinese origin. Many were overjoyed and took solace in the belief that we will not lose China's "patent" on the festival.

But can we really preserve the integrity of the Duanwu Festival and other cultural heritages through enriching them with new and healthy features?

The answer is a big question mark.

To many Chinese, Duanwu only means eating zongzi pyramid-shaped dumplings made of glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo or reef leaves. In fact, zongzi is only one out of the many colourful symbols that used to define the traditional festival.

The festival itself also has profound cultural significance that has helped shape the spirit of our nation.

Eating zongzi and racing dragon boats in places in South China now constitute the main part of the Duanwu celebration. I have been eating zongzi to celebrate the Duanwu Festival every year since I moved to Beijing some 20 years ago. To be honest, I do not like zongzi, although a wide variety of ingredients and tastes have been incorporated into the modern recipe.

But the flavour of bamboo leaves and the glutinous rice always reminds me of my hometown, a picturesque county in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and my grandmother, who was an ardent practitioner of traditional customs throughout her lifetime.

Although the Duanwu Festival is less important and less renowned than the Spring Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival, in my memory my grandmother faithfully observed it with equal enthusiasm every year.

On the big day she served zongzi and dough models with animal figures to the whole family, picked the leaves of mugwort, a special scented plant, to be hung on the front door, and gave every family member a hand-made sachet filled with fragrant herbs. And last but not least, she cajoled us children into drinking the realgar wine.

It was an unforgetful experience, not only because my grandmother could make very delicious zongzi with fresh and greenish bamboo leaves that smelled of the open country, but also because of the special aroma and taste of the realgar wine. My grandma said both the leaves and the wine would keep away insects and disease, although we frowned and almost vomited after having a taste of it.

To me, the Duanwu Festival has always had a mixed implication of affinity and nostalgia. Meanwhile, as I grew up and learned from books that the festival has its root in traditional culture and folk customs that date back thousands of years, I have also been charmed by its profound cultural heritage.

If the Chinese culture is an extensive and profound system founded on the essence of traditional culture, the Duanwu Festival is a miniature celebration of traditional culture and customs.

The festival is believed to be dedicated to Qu Yuan, a great Chinese poet living some 2,000 years ago.

Qu, a nobleman of Chu State in the Warring States period, drowned himself in the Miluo River, which runs in what is now Hunan Province, after hearing the disappointing news that the capital of his kingdom was captured by Qin State. He went down in the annals of Chinese history as an incumbent patriot, an intellectual whose lofty aspirations for serving his country went unrealized, and a great poet who initiated a new style of poetry, chu ci.

Eating zongzi and racing dragon boats, the core celebration today, also has connections with Qu Yuan. It is believed the local people, out of deep love and respect for Qu, raced boats along the river to try to recover his body. After they failed, they threw zongzi in the river in the hope that fish in the river would eat zongzi instead of Qu's body.

There are also other academic explanations for the origin of the festival which find its sources in ancient people's worship of dragons and activities instigated by ancient sorcerers.

However, the majority of the people continue to believe in the festival's connection with Qu Yuan. And Qu's unyielding integrity and love for his country and people have been crystallized into the Duanwu Festival and handed down from generation to generation.

Regrettably, this important implication of the festival is losing its glamour as the celebration itself becomes less important in our society, which is becoming more modern with each passing day. Many other traditions and customs are facing the same plight.

In sharp contrast, festivals originating from Western countries are gaining increasing popularity among Chinese, especially the young.

The embarrassment of the fading away of Chinese traditional festivals and customs, the Duanwu Festival included, is a timely reminder of the responsibility each Chinese shoulders in this regard.

The Chinese culture is unique in the world. Undoubtedly, traditional festivals and customs like the Duanwu Festival are an essential manifestation of it. If we simply stand by and allow these elements of our traditional culture to disappear bit by bit, we may some day lose our Chinese identity.

Given the country's profound cultural heritage, we should have the confidence and awareness to observe our traditional festivals and social customs and enthusiastically protect them..

I sincerely hope more people will join in the celebration of today's festival and dwell a little bit on its cultural heritage. As for myself, I like to recall these lines from Qu Yuan as a special way to carry on his patriotic spirit:

Long did I sigh and wipe away my tears,

To see my people bowed by grieves and fears.

The people's sufferings move my heart,

Our land I cannot leave.

(China Daily 06/22/2004 page6)