Tomb Sweeping Day
Qingming Festival;Pure Bright Festival;Clear Brightness Festival.
The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year. After the festival, the temperature will rise up and rainfall increases.
One of the lunar 24 solar terms, clear. Chinese traditional tomb-sweeping day began about the zhou dynasty, it has a history of more than 25. The vernal equinox ephemeris ":" after 15, dou refers to, cubed for clarity, all things are clean when and clarity, cover JingMing when gas qing, everything show, therefore the name." Qingming, temperatures, it is the good season, spring is injected with "clarity around, kind of melon kind beans". Tomb-sweeping day is a holiday, the main ancestor worship is grave, grave is aired ShenZhongZhuiYuan, Nathan close family and the specific performance shew piety. Tomb-sweeping day is with the MuChun in air into the winter solstice, namely after 106 days. On May 20, 2006, the MinSuJie nikkei the approval of the state council listed in the first national nonmaterial cultural heritage list. Another poem, xu DuMu abundantly clear, the most famous poems "qingming. 
The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year. After the festival, the temperature will rise up and rainfall increases. It is the high time for spring plowing and sowing. But the Qingming Festival is not only a seasonal point to guide farm work, it is more a festival of commemoration.
The Qingming Festival sees a combination of sadness and happiness.
This is the most important day of sacrifice. Both the Han and minority ethnic groups at this time offer sacrifices to their ancestors and sweep the tombs of the diseased. Also, they will not cook on this day and only cold food is served.
The Hanshi (Cold Food) Festival was usually one day before the Qingming Festival. As our ancestors often extended the day to the Qingming, they were later combined.
On each Qingming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes extremely jammed. The customs have been greatly simplified today. After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offer food, flowers and favorites of the dead, then burn incense and paper money and bow before the memorial tablet.
Qing Ming Jie（All Souls’ Day） Qing Ming is a time to remember the dead and the dearly departed. More important, it is a period to honour and to pay respect to one’s deceased ancestors and family members. Because it reinforces the ethic of filial piety, Qing Ming is a major Chinese festival. Literally meaning "clear" (Qing) and "bright" (Ming), this Chinese festival falls in early spring, on the 106th day after the winter solstice. It is a "spring" festival, and it is an occasion for the whole family to leave the home and to sweep the graves of their forebears. Chinese being practical people this sweeping of the graves is given an extended period, that is, 10 days before and after Qing Ming day. Among some dialect groups a whole month is allocated.
Qing Ming is popularly associated with Jie Zi Zhui, who lived in Shanxi province in 600 B.C. Legend has it that Jie saved his starving lord’s life by serving a piece of his own leg. When the lord succeeded in becoming the ruler of a small principality, he invited his faithful follower to join him. However, Jie declined his invitation, preferring to lead a hermit’s life with his mother in the mountains. Believing that he could force Jie out by burning the mountain, the lord ordered his men to set the forest on fire. To his consternation, Jie chose to remain where he was and was burnt to death. To commemorate Jie, the lord ordered all fires in every home to be put out on the anniversary of Jie’s death. Thus began the "cold food feast", a day when no food could be cooked since no fire could be lit. The "cold food" festival occurs on the eve of Qing Ming and is often considered as part of the Qing Ming festival. As time passes, the Qing Ming festival replaced the "cold food" festival. Whatever practice is observed，the basic observation of Qing Ming is to remember one’s elders by making a special effort to visit their graves, ashes or ancestral tablets. To make the visit even more meaningful, some time should be spent to remind the younger members of the family of the lives and contributions of their ancestors, and the story of Jie Zi Zhui who choose death over capitulation.
