A national survey has found that nine out of 10 people believe the Chinese traditional Mid-autumn Day, or Moon Festival, should be a national holiday and 86% call for a day off on that day.

The survey, conducted by the Beijing-based China Youth Daily and online portal Sina.com.cn, also found the Spring Festival, with 27% support, tops all traditional festivals as the most valued festival. Mid-autumn Day comes the second, getting 22 per cent support.

Analysts attribute the low support percentages to the misunderstanding of those traditional festivals. In modern days, lack of time to observe the traditional festivals has reduced them to days of merely a big meal.

Echoing the people's will, deputies of the National People's Congress (NPC) proposed in their March session this year to legalize the Chinese traditional festivals and to officially declare national holidays. But the bill has been submitted to the State Council, China's cabinet, but no decision has been made yet.

"Chinese people need to understand their traditional culture through observing the traditional festivals," said Ji Baocheng, president of the Renmin University of China and also an NPC deputy. "We need more traditional holidays other than the Spring Festival."

Besides the Moon Festival that comes every August 15 on Chinese lunar calendar, Dragon Boat Festival (May 5 on the lunar calendar), Double Nine Festival (September 9 on the lunar calendar) and Lantern Festival among others are all traditional ones bearing the profound Chinese culture.

As China opens further to the outside world, Western festivals as the Valentine's Day, have become very popular, particularly on the young, who seem to care more about Western festivals than the traditional ones.

The 4% supporting rate for the Chinese Double Seven Festival (July 7 on the lunar calendar), or Chinese Valentine's Day, draws a sharp comparison to the breathtaking scene on the Western Valentine's Day when crowds pack flower shops for roses.

A notion of spending those traditional festivals by enjoying delicious food has spread across the country. People have taken it for granted that eating rice dumplings on the Dragon Boat Festival or rice glue ball on Lantern Festival is the main purpose after a day's work or study.

"It is necessary to bring new meanings to those traditional festivals such as Double Nine and Qingming festivals to keep pace with the times," said Ji Baocheng.