Don’t confuse traditional culture with feudal dross

PAMPHLETS HANDED OUT by local government employees working in the marriage registration office in Fuxing District, Handan, North China’s Hebei province, have created a stir because of the views it contains about women. Thepaper.cn comments: “A girl wearing skirts or T-shirts is a slut.” “If a woman gives birth to a child with congenital diseases, it is because she has bad temper.”

“Women should accept whatever fate gives them.”

Can you believe these words are actually printed in a pamphlet handed out today?

More absurdly, it is local governmental employees working at a marriage registration office that give these pamphlets to every couple for registration. They said the pamphlets were donated but claimed they did not know who donated them. They also said they thought the pamphlets “were advocating traditional culture”.

Whoever printed these pamphlets, please stop insulting traditional culture. The central leadership has been advocating traditional Chinese culture, but some illegal groups have been distorting the concept of “traditional Chinese culture” by spreading certain values that are against modern society, such as gender inequality.

It must be emphasized that the traditional Chinese culture officially promoted is healthy and the views expressed in the pamphlets are not part of it. Those who printed these pamphlets are actually insulting traditional Chinese culture and their activities must be stopped.

Worse, by spreading such discriminatory and absurd ideas via local marriage registration offices, they damage the public’s trust in local government departments. It is necessary for the local marriage registration staff in Handan to provide detailed information about the “donors” of the pamphlets so as to avoid further damage being done to their department’s public image.

What happens in Handan must teach local officials nationwide a lesson. When someone utters beautiful words such as “traditional culture”, they might be possibly insulting instead of promoting it, and local governments must be cautious enough not to be made use of by them.