Our ancient sage Confucius said that respect for the dead and to our ancestors helps cultivate our morals.

As Tomb Sweeping Day or Pure Brightness Festival is just one day away, what comes to mind is the way we pay our respects to the dead and what we achieve from this.

Apart from the rush of rural and urban residents to cemeteries on this particular day, quite a number of local governments also organize public ceremonies to pay homage to our Chinese legendary ancestors.

Some localities, however, have got into arguments about which one should be the hometown or birthplace of our legendary figures such as Emperors Huangdi, Yandi, Fuxi and Empress Nuwa. Some have spent billions of yuan building mausoleums or memorial halls for these legendary figures and have squandered huge sums in organizing ceremonies.

The way these localities show their respect has gone far beyond what we should achieve from such rituals or ceremonies metaphysically, which is exactly why Confucius emphasized the significance of them.

It is not important how much money we spend on such rituals but how we should feel the moment we bow our heads to show respect to a loved or honored individual who has passed on.

Our memories of them, if we really think hard about what they experienced, will help us to be more tolerant, forgiving and to share in the joys of others.

Of course, these are just rituals and ceremonies, but they contain positive things that we can adopt.

However, when a local government squanders huge sums on building temples and organizing luxurious ceremonies to honor a figure many may never have heard of except through the media, we can image how residents, who are told to participate, feel.

Those who organize such public events insist they are helping to build national unity by letting people know about their common ancestors. But the fact is that such events are always accompanied by activities to boost their local economies. In addition, some localities have never concealed the fact they hope such temples or altars will attract more tourism.

In such cases, it is not only a waste of taxpayers' money, but also a contamination of the minds of the participants, who only view the world through the prism of expediency. That is our worry.

(China Daily April 3, 2008)