What is Qingmingjie and Why Does it Hold Such Importance to Chinese Culture?

On April 5 (next Tuesday), the annual Qingming Festival, also known as the Pure Brightness Festival or Tomb Sweeping Day, will take place. This important traditional Chinese Holiday is celebrated both in China and within Chinese communities located around the globe. The main activity that people participate in on this day is the cleaning and maintaining the tombs of their relatives and ancestors.

“When I was younger, I didn’t really get the reason as to why we had to do all of these things during Qingmingjie, but as I grow older, I start to understand why my parents are so invested in it,” said Sandy W., a freshman at AISG.

The festival is traditionally between April 3 and April 5, 15 days after the Spring Equinox. The Qingming festival is recognized as an official public holiday in mainland China and gives people one day off out of the week. Not counting the weekends.

The process of tomb sweeping is seen to show respect to ancestors and relatives. Maintaining the tombs of ancestors is a crucial part of the Qingming holiday, but because burial traditions in Chinese cities are unlike those in the Chinese countryside, the process of cleaning the tombs may vary depending on where one lives.

“Me and my family went back to my mom’s ancestral tomb last year for Qingmingjie because we haven’t gone in quite a while due to the COVID situation in Guangdong. We had to hike for a long while because it was located on this mountain because our relatives live in the countryside,” said Max N., a junior at AISG.

During the festival, people tend to only eat cold food because of the holiday’s association with the Cold Food Festival, another traditional Chinese holiday. In southern China, people often eat qingtuan: round, sweet and sticky green dumplings made of glutinous rice often stuffed with fillings such as sweet red bean paste.

For most students, this holiday is of significant importance to them, as it gives them a chance to commemorate their ancestors.  However, due to the COVID restrictions placed on many provinces in China, it seems that many students and their families will not be able to participate in the activities with their relatives, much less see them.