The Spring Festival Moved Ahead:A Study Of The Changing New Year Visit Custom In Village Z In Jiaxing City

As one of the most important traditional festivals in China, the Spring Festival is of great significance to Chinese people. The Spring Festival custom’s future has become an issue of concern of many scholars. This paper choose a village called Z for a case study. The paper’s data is collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews. This paper takes the characteristics of rural society into consideration, then through the form and time arrangement to describe the change of activities of visiting friends and relatives and analyze the reasons which leads to such change. Finally, discusses what it will be in the future.The study finds that the village’s New Year custom appeared two interesting change. At time arrangement aspect, the custom changes from "nianqiian" which in Chinese means before to "nianhou" which means after the Spring Festival Eve. At form selection aspect, the custom changes from "zouqinqi" which in Chinese means the guest go to visit relatives and friends to "bainianjiu" which means the host invite the guests to come and have dinner. Besides, the change in form is earlier than time arrangement. This change has gone through three important periods. Change in the way of rural production, the idea and value, people’s living standard rises, and the influence of regional culture, Rural public opinion. All of these contribute to the change in the Spring Festival customs. According to the realistic condition, through rational choice and imitation, people choose the most appropriate way to celebrate new year. In other words, the change in customs is the result of adjustment and innovation which achieve an essential function in a new structure balance.