On August 13, the 8th Chinese Parental Love and Filial Piety Cultural Festival kicked off in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. This year's Chinese Parental Love and Filial Piety Cultural Festival promotes the Chinese culture of filial piety in the new era and allows more people to feel and understand the culture of filial piety by holding activities such as annual character collection and selection, comic exhibitions, themed buses and forums.

In the face of 'big changes', the excellent traditional Chinese culture, including the culture of filial piety, is constantly being endowed with new connotations. How to use new elements to inherit the culture of filial piety and express the emotions that the Chinese have inherited so far needs to be re-examined.

Since 2015, the Chinese Parental Love and Filial Piety Cultural Festival has continued to promote the 'going out' of Chinese filial piety culture, attracting global attention to 'come in'. The event has changed from a provincial forum for selecting characters to a series of globally influential filial piety-themed events. In the past eight years, the Chinese Parental Love and Filial Piety Cultural Festival has selected 80 figures/groups with extensive social participation. They cover different ages, regions and countries.

The 10 Chinese filial piety figures/groups selected this year are:

Anti-trafficking police groups of the Reunion Public Welfare Action;

'Red Apple Public Welfare', a caring organization that provides assistance to minor children of prisoners;

Zhang Xiping, a blind man who has been selling eggs for more than 30 years to support his mother and adopted daughter;

Dong Yunrong, a rock grandmother who practices happy retirement;

'Portraits of 100 Martyrs' public welfare activities;

Waeramu, a returning youth who realizes basketball dreams for children in the mountains;

Chou, Ta-kuan Foundation, which encourages people with disabilities, cancer children, and rare diseases to 'love life and live happily'

'Yue'er Action' to help the hearing impaired;

Fang Shugong, the spiritual caregiver of the dying;

Ye Junyi, a Chinese who helped the development of his father's hometown.

This year, cartoonist Cai Zhizhong, the 76th eldest grandson of Confucius Kong Lingli, 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics freestyle skiing aerial skills champion Xu Mengtao, and Tokyo Olympic gymnastics women's balance beam champion Guan Chenchen joined as Chinese cultural ambassadors of filial piety.

This event will also hold the China Charity and Filial Elder Care Forum, inviting professional guests to discuss the theme of 'active elderly care' and explore diversified development paths for elderly care.

In addition to the above activities, Cai Zhizhong's works will be exhibited at Lingyin Temple: using comic art as a bridge, create an experienceable cultural scene in Lingyin Temple, and use art to spread the Chinese culture of filial piety. The Hangzhou filial piety-themed bus set off again: the bus was decorated with the theme of 'Youziyin (A traveller’s song)' created by Cai Zhizhong, showing the beauty of filial piety and family affection.

The 8th Chinese Parental Love and Filial Piety Cultural Festival is hosted by China News Service and Hangzhou Lingyin Temple, and undertaken by Hangzhou Lingyin Temple, China News Service Zhejiang Branch News Development Center, and China News Service International Communication Group Zhejiang Branch. The event was also supported by China News, China Philanthropist Magazine, The Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang Zhejiang Provincial Committee, Committee for Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese and Foreign Affairs of Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and Hangzhou Yunlin Public Welfare Foundation.

Editor: Tan Qikuan, Wang Hanyue (Intern)