The Qingming festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping （扫墓sǎo mù）Day in English , is a traditional Chinese festival observed by the people in China and east & southeast Asian Countries. It falls on the first day of the fifth solar term of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar （阴历yīn lì ）. This makes it the 15th day after the Spring Equinox（春分chūn fèn ）, either 4, 5 or 6 April in a given year. During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs（坟墓fén mù ） of their ancestors to clean the gravesites, pray to their ancestors and make ritual offerings. Offerings would typically include traditional food dishes （祭品jì pǐn）and the burning of joss sticks（蜡烛là zhú ） and joss paper（冥钱 míng qián）. The holiday recognizes the traditional reverence of one's ancestors in Chinese culture. The Qingming Festival has been observed by the Chinese for over 2500 years, although the observance has changed significantly. It became a public holiday（公共假日 gōng gòng jiǎ rì ）in mainland China in 2008.
Vocabulary
【哀悼】 āi dào lament ； mourn
e.g. 【例句】
We lament the loss of your family .
我们对你失去家人表示哀悼。
【上坟】 shàng fén
e.g. 【例句】
Xiao Wang went to the graveyard to burn paper money for his grandpa.
小王给他爷爷上坟去了。
【思念】 sī niàn v Miss
e.g. 【例句】
小王非常思念他的爷爷。
Xiao Wang miss his grandpa very much.
【烧纸】shāo zhǐ Burn paper money for the dead.
e.g. 【例句】
小王准备去墓地，在爷爷坟前烧纸，表达思念。
Xiao Wang is preparing to go to the graveyard to burn the joss paper in front of his grandpa`s gravestone in memory of his grandpa.
【纸钱】zhǐ qián joss paper
在中国烧纸钱给死去的人，是为了让他们在阴间也可以有钱花。
Its common to burn joss paper for the dead in China, the purpose is to let the dead still can have money to spend in the other world.
