Chinese fathers were left with little to celebrate yesterday as Father's Day brought them only a fraction of the gifts and cards that China's mothers received on Mother's Day last month.

Dai Xiang, who sells flowers at the Liangma Flower Fair in Beijing's Chaoyang District, said yesterday she had not received any requests from Chinese customers for flowers for their fathers.

"Luckily, we have not specially prepared for this occasion by ordering more flowers for fathers, such as yellow carnations and lilies," she said.

The flower seller said she sold several bunches of yellow carnations yesterday for 10 yuan (US$1.20) a bunch. But only one bunch was for the customer's father and it was bought by an American girl.

Things were similar at the counters selling "special items for fathers" on the fourth floor of central Beijing's Sogo department store.

On the lower floors, women grabbed at goods that had been discounted to celebrate the store's anniversary, but the fourth-floor counters saw little business.

A sales assistant selling Arrow shirts, who declined to give her name, said: "We had long queues waiting to buy things for mothers on Mother's Day but are not so lucky today.

"My impression is that not so many customers know today is Father's Day before they come to our counters."

The Beijing Lufthansa Centre, one of the most modern shopping centres in the Chinese capital, had done nothing at all to promote Father's Day.

A young woman at the inquiry desk said: "Father's Day is too small a business occasion."

Dou Kun, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said it was "understandable" that Beijingers showed little interest in Father's Day.

She said that one possible reason was that not many Beijing people know exactly when Father's Day is. She added that Chinese society's traditional definitions of the role of men and women have made children closer to their mothers than to their fathers.

Chinese people also tend to overlook men's sentimental needs since the definition of their role puts more public responsibility on their shoulders, she said.

The stereotype of men is that they should be more awe-inspiring, silent and tenacious than women, she added.

But Zhang Xueyuan, an official with the Beijing Statistics Bureau, dismissed such a complicated explanation. He said he believed lack of publicity is the major reason.

"Habits, especially consumer habits, can be cultivated," he said.

In Zhang's view, Beijing people are willing to pay to celebrate various festival days. He cited statistics indicating that Beijingers spent around 200 yuan (US$25) per person on average for presents and related items for various festival days in the first six months of last year, 11 per cent up over the same period the previous year.

"Some Western festivals 'imported' earlier than Father's Day, such as Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, make a big contribution to these statistics," said Zhang. "We were not very enthusiastic about those two days in the 1980s either, when they were first introduced."

( China Daily June 17, 2002)