Cross cultural management - Term Paper Example

During the spring festival, people living in far places travel back home in order to celebrate together with their relatives. The events taking place during this festival makes it period the busiest event in the Chinese calendar. Mostly, the festival falls during the first day of the first lunar month, which in most cases comes later than the Gregorian calendar. The Chinese history traces the origin of this festival back to the Shang Dynasty, an era when people used to sacrifice to the gods, and their ancestors at the end and the beginning of the year (Wei, 2011).

To them, it was a way of thanksgiving to the gods. Although the event lasts for a long period, the first three days of the month are most important days. With the event becoming more important in the celebration of the Chinese heritage, the government now stipulates that people should have at least seven days off in its celebration (Pan & Tang, 2004). This shows how the event is important even at the national level. People celebrate many events during the spring festival. . ry eve, which falls on the twenty third day of the twelfth month, people start preparing for the event called “Seeing the New year in.

” the busiest people in the society at this time are store owners as people buy food to cook on the big occasion, new clothes, house decorations, among others (Pan & Tang, 2004). On the day of the New Year, people dress up early in the morning, and the first thing is extending greetings to their parents. The elder ones then give gifts to the children in form of money wrapped in red paper. Then the celebrations, which involve specially prepared and good food prepared in accordance to their culture (Wei, 2011).

The lantern Festival The lantern festival, which falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, in the Gregorian calendar falls between the February and March. The event, having begun in the Western Han Dynasty, over time has gained significance, until the present day China. Interestingly, just as the name suggests, the most important event that takes place during this festival is watching lanterns. History points out that during the Han Dynasty, Buddhism flourished more in china than in any other part of the world.

One of the Chinese emperors on hearing that Buddhist monks would watch sarira (remains of the cremated body of Buddha), on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month under the light of lanterns, he ordered the rest of the people to respect the Buddha on this day (Wei, 2011). With time however, the event became more popular among the Chinese people, thus maintaining its popularity in the Chinese society. People, during these celebrations prepare special food called yuanxiao or rice dumping, hence the common name, “yuanxiao festival” among the people.

Additionally, people guess lantern riddles at night, while