Chinese People are Sweepping Tombs and Expressing Grief to Ancestors Today

Today is the traditional Qingming Festival in China, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day. The festival is a time to remember loved ones who have passed away or pay respects to ancestors, and to enjoy Spring and nature. 

Today people in most of areas in China all take a variety of ways to pay homage to the martyrs as well as mourning their ancestors and died friends.

From the capital Beijing, Taiwan province,  from the tomb of Emperor Huang in Shaanxi province, to the Sichuan earthquake disaster area, people from all parts taken in various ways to sacrifice their ancestors, martyrs and express their deep memories to them, and funeral parlors and memorial parks in everywhere now has cater a peak of the activities of tomb sweeping. 

Babaoshan Public Cemetery and Revolutionary Cemetery in western Beijing are two major cemeteries in the capital.

The municipal transportation department estimated that the pedestrian traffic in this section of the city reached a peak of about 3.5 million.

Gu Jing is an official from the local traffic police department.

"The 3,000 parking places were not enough according to the current situation, and we have had to open up all the backup parking lots. And our policemen will also focus on this area, helping to ease the traffic jams."

Many visitors brought flowers or cards to the graves of family members instead of lighting firecrackers and burning fake money, the two traditional ways of remembering the dead.



Wang Qi was one of the visitors at the Public Cemetery.

"Now the government has banned lighting firecrackers and burning fake money, so we decided to bring flowers to the graves of our deceased relatives. We can also express our love to them."

Similar events took place in localities nationwide, and the number of people visiting cemetaries and tombs is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.Saturday also marked the 25th tree planting day in Beijing. Environmentalists and volunteers in the capital city held various activities to promote environmental protection and a green, healthy lifestyle.

Beijing Environmental Volunteers Promote Idea of Green and Healthy Lifestyle

In the Olympic Park near the iconic "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, student volunteers from 30 colleges across China conducted surveys among passersby, testing them on their environmental knowledge. They also offered some environmental tips to onlookers, such as the basic skills of planting flowers.

Wang Leiming, a volunteer from Beijing Forestry University, said they aim to promote the idea of a green lifestyle through the activities.

"We have held three kinds of activities. One is arranging quizzes for citizens to get some environmental knowledge. The other is displaying indoor green plants topassersby. The third is showing environmentally-friendly gadgets made of waste discs, boxes and newspapers. Through this, we want to encourage the public to make use of waste materials in their daily life."




The activities aroused the interest of many onlookers who offered their support.
Ding Yanjuan was one of them.

"I think the activities are very good. Through doing the quizzes, I have obtained some knowledge, such as how to grow indoor plants. The activities are very useful."

In addition, volunteers from 50 colleges nationwide began a nationwide environmental tour from Beijing Forestry University. Participants in the campaign will promote awareness of environmental protection throughout their trip across China.

* Original address of this China gift post: Chinese People are Sweepping Tombs and Expressing Grief to Ancestors Today