Students hug their parents to express gratitude and to show they will take more family responsibilities like grown-ups. [Photo by Jiang Dong /China Daily]

"Modern society has lost too many traditional customs. We'd love to re-establish good parts of our ancient rituals step by step, starting from festivals and crucial moments in our life. "

According to Cheng Fangping, an education professor at Renmin University of China, coming-of-age rituals returned to the public's consciousness about 10 years ago and have gradually mushroomed nationwide in recent years. This follows a similar trend in neighboring countries like Japan and South Korea, whose rituals are largely influenced by ancient China. He feels encouraged to see their comeback here.

"The rituals cannot be too casual, because it needs a solemn atmosphere to make new adults clearly know what this crucial moment means for them," he says.

While coming-of-age is observed differently around the globe, the spiritual gist is basically the same: to warn the young it is time to be independent.

"We've seen too many Chinese people who still depend on their parents at 28, or even 38. On the other hand, parents want too much to take care of their grown-up children and won't let them go. It's not only an educational issue but a dilemma our whole society has to seriously consider. "