Op-Ed Contributors

Musical road to tradition

By Wang Zhengxu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-04 07:36

Big screens could be rolled into parks and public spaces for evening performances, and all the concerts broadcast on Chinese Central Television, regional channels and over the radio.

The ideal time to stage this annual festival would be July or August, which raises important considerations on how the summer season is perceived in China.

Here in Britain, summer is the holiday season regardless of whether or not you continue working all the way through. Politicians pack up their bags as parliament adjourns for its summer recess and hundreds of music, arts and food festivals are crammed into a three-month period.

A "Chinese Proms" should take place at more sociable hours during the summer. Perhaps the instilling of a national festival culture could leave a lasting legacy on the way the seasonal structure is viewed in China.

In fact, China's school semester system should be overhauled. Two semesters, each lasting 22 weeks, is counterproductive and reduces severely the amount of extracurricular activities in which Chinese students can get involved.

A longer break over the summer could well boost academic performance in the long run. In the US and the UK, a semester is normally 10 to 14 weeks long. University students have two to three months in the summer without classes, which they can use for part-time jobs that help them develop skills not taught in classrooms. It also frees university professors of teaching duties and gives them time to develop top-grade research.

When I was at the University of Michigan in the United States, the academic calendar set aside four months for the summer holiday by reducing the length of the winter break. It was an excellent arrangement that allowed professors and students both to use the summer period more effectively.

So what's not to like? An annual "Chinese Proms" could promote high culture in China and create a real feeling of public unity. It could contribute to raising happiness levels during summer, particularly when other arts festivals follow on the heels of the frontrunners, and could lead to a complete re-evaluation of how the year is structured in China.

The author is senior research fellow at the University of Nottingham's China Policy Institute.

China Forum

(China Daily 09/04/2010 page5)