Qingming Festival
Next: April 5, 2027
Honour your roots, then walk in spring.
The story
Where it comes from
Qingming (清明), 'clear and bright', is one of the 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese calendar and falls on 4 or 5 April, in full spring. It absorbed an older festival held just before it, Hanshi or Cold Food Day, when lighting fires was forbidden; legend links that custom to Jie Zitui, a loyal follower of a prince of Jin in the 7th century BC. By the Tang dynasty, sweeping family graves had become a fixed spring rite, and by the Song and Yuan, Qingming had taken over the customs of both, as a day for honouring ancestors and enjoying spring.
How it's celebrated
Families go back to their ancestors' graves to pull weeds, clean and repaint the headstones, and lay out food, tea or wine, incense and paper offerings, often sharing the food together afterwards. Then comes taqing (踏青), 'treading the green': spring walks, kite flying and sprigs of willow worn or hung by the door. Chinese families in Malaysia and Singapore keep the day too, often calling it Cheng Beng, its Hokkien name.
Did you know
- In Malaysia, families usually visit the graves on a day within about ten days either side of Qingming, so that relatives with different schedules can come together.
- The Song-dynasty scroll 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival', by Zhang Zeduan, shows festive life along the Bian River in the capital Bianjing, today's Kaifeng.
- In mainland China, Qingming became a public holiday for everyone in 2008, at the same time as the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn.
The greeting
清明安康 · Qīngmíng ānkāng
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