Don't turn ritual into a farce_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Don't turn ritual into a farce

Even the Monkey King, a fairy-tale hero, has become a prize in the regional contest for cultural affluence. A scholar in Fujian has claimed that he found the mischievous monkey's tomb. Surely someone in Shandong has discovered the mountain where the monkey built his base.

What next? Reincarnations of the monkey? Claims that he has been seen pole-vaulting thousands of miles in a single leap?

Public memorials for ancient figures are supposed to inject a dose of cultural identity into our psyche. As such, they should express the innate need of the public. When stripped of public support, a solemn ritual is just a costume play starring local officials and a cast of thousands of extras. As entertainment, its value is quite limited and lacks originality.

When I first heard of such events, I was elated: Finally, people were paying attention to a thing as ethereal as culture. I soon realized that I was wrong. The tactic could be called "using culture to set up the stage and the economy to put on a show". Those newly sculpted statues are only there to attract outside investment. In many cases, they are essentially theme parks with imitation structures, something like Disneyland for the historically minded.

One of the duties of local governments is to spruce up a place's image to attract tourism or investment. But rituals should not be exploited. A ritual overused, over-dramatized or over-commercialized turns into a farce.