The Qingming Festival, which usually falls between April 4 and 6 each year, on the 108th day after the Winter Solstice e (冬至), is one of the 24 seasonal division points in the traditional Chinese calendar.
Qingming, strictly meaning "pure and bright", shows rising temperatures and increased rainfall at the start of spring. It always rains around Qingming, providing a typical scene for the festival. Some 1,200 years ago, a Chinese poem written by the great Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu illustrated (描述) a scene of Qingming:
A drizzlingrain falls like tears on the Mourning Day；
The mourner's heart is going to break on his way.
Where can a wineshop be found to drown his sad hours?
A cowherd points to a cot'mid apricot flowers.
The Qingming Festival in spring is the occasion for visiting ancestral graves(坟墓).Qing Ming is popularly connected with Jie Zitui, who lived in Shanxi province in 600B. C. To mark Jie, the lord Chong Er 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 falls on the eve of Qing Ming and is often considered as part of the QingMing Festival. As time passed, the Qing Ming Festival replaced the "cold food" festival. No matter what changes there are, one thing that will never change of Qing Ming is to remember one's elders by making a special effort to visit their graves, ashes or ancestral tablets.
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