A Chinese emperor first set the
Qingming Festival, or the Tomb Sweeping Festival, in memory of
a loyal official who sacrificed himself to save the emperor's life
more than 2,500 years ago.
Nowadays, the festival which falls on Wednesday has become an
important occasion for Chinese to show gratitude to their ancestors
by traveling to their graves where they light incense, burn fake
paper money and present flowers.
Fushouyuan Cemetery in eastern metropolis of Shanghai is
expected to see streams of people visiting its special memorial
parks that honor fallen police and model workers.
The parks received around 60,000 visitors last weekend and the
number was predicted to hit 150,000 at Qingming Festival which is
Wednesday, said Yi Hua deputy manager of the cemetery.
According to Yi, many people come to pay respect to the people
who 'have left precious treasures to the world' and sleep forever
in the special park which was built in 2002. Most visitors are not
relatives of the dead.
Standing in front of one of the monuments contain the remains of
3,552 Shanghai people Mr. Wang bows deeply.
"I respect these pioneers who have contributed their all to
society," said the 59-year-old man, who also applied to donate his
remains to medical research.
Thousands of netizens have written on-line message to show their
gratitude and respect to the heroes and martyrs in Chinese history
in response to the call to "mourn Chinese heroes at the Qingming
Festival" sponsored by the Central Committee of Communist Youth
League of China.
More than 130 million netizens and over 1,000 websites were
involved since the activity was launched in 2002, said Li Wenge,
deputy director of the committee's information office, adding they
have received messages from around 10 million people so far this
year.
A netizen by the name of Donis Cai wrote, "I am deeply aware of
what we have today is from your brilliant sacrifice, even at the
price of your lives. Please accept my sincere salute and we will
remember you forever."
"On-line memorial activities are free from the restrictions of
time and space, which provides a more convenient means for modern
Chinese, especially the younger generation, to get involved and
pass on the old traditions of Qingming," said Li.
However, Luo Kai, a 29-year-old computer engineer working in
Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan Province, said he
preferred the tradition customs of worshipping ancestors at
Qingming Festival.
The Luo plans to return on Wednesday to a mountainous village
more than 100 kilometers from Chengdu to mourn their forefathers
buried there, which has been a family tradition for
generations.
"I want to say 'Hi' to my grandfather who passed away nine years
ago. He is the one who loved me most and the one I respect most.
Which way we chose to mourn him doesn't matter," said Luo.
Everyone should be grateful for all that they own and enjoy.
With that in mind they should care for others and help others to
leave their own legacy for the future, said Yu Xianyang, professor
with the department of Social Science of the Beijing-based Renmin
University of China.
"The Qingming Festival reminds the modern Chinese of the
importance of being thankful while recalling their forefathers,
which is exactly what China needs in building a harmonious
society," said Yu.
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(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2006)
