This weekend many students will go home to celebrate the Qing Ming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Festival. It coincides with the fifteenth day of the spring equinox, and is one of the few Chinese holidays that follows the pattern of the sun on the Chinese lunar calendar. To celebrate the Qing Ming Festival families will visit the tombs of their ancestors, paying their respects and carrying out maintenance work, such as sweeping clean the tombs and getting rid of weeds. They traditionally leave flowers and burn fake paper money (which has been readily for sale lately at carts along the streets) at the graves. They may also have traditional ceremonies to honor their ancestors. The university used to give off several days for National Labor Day in May but has revised their schedule to instead honor some traditional Chinese holidays such as the Qing Ming Festival.
People present flowers to express condolences at a cemetery in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, April 4, 2009, the day of Chinese Qingming Festival or Tomb-sweeping Day. (Photo from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/06/content_11137560.htm)
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