The Poetry:
WANDERER'S SONG
The thread in the hand of a kind mother
is the coat on the wanderer's back.
Before he left she stitched it close
in secret fear that he would be slow to return.
Who will say that the inch of grass in his heart
is gratitude enough for all the sunshine of spring?
—by Meng Jiiao
After one year of preparatory work, the first Chinese Kindness and Filial Piety Festival was launched in Ningbo’s Jiangbei district on October 25. The festival’s organizing committee announced the top ten most touching kindness and filial piety stories at a news conference for the festival’s opening, along with the full list of winners of the festival’s Special Prize. The organizing committee also suggested that the Double Ninth Festival should be Day of Kindness and Filial Piety of China.
Jiangbei District in Ningbo has a long history of the culture of kindness and filial piety. Cicheng—the Ancient Town—Cijiang River and Cihu Lake are all named after the story of Dong the filial son. Today, as a famous historical and cultural town of China, Cicheng has preserved the cultural heritage of kindness and filial piety, which is a cultural tradition with wide spread social impact.