CCTV9英语新闻：Tomb sweeping and spring outing mark traditional Chinese festival

China's traditional Qingming Festival, also called Tomb Sweeping Day, usually falls on the first day of the fifth solar term on the lunisolar calendar, and this year, it's the 4th of April.  

 

Tomb Sweeping is the most important custom of the festival.  During the three-day holiday, many Chinese people accompany their families to sweep tombs as a way of honoring their ancestors. The ritual always includes presenting food, tea, wine, incense and joss paper to the deceased at cemeteries. 

 

This year, more than 29,000 people visited one cemetery in Taiyuan - capital of Shanxi Province -  up 50 percent from last year. Meanwhile, Qingming is also called Taqing Festival. Taqing means "spring outing". It's when people get outside to enjoy the spring blossoms. Quite a number of people nationwide choose to venture outdoors and enjoy the greenery of this season. Right now, The Summer Palace in Beijing is in bloom, while in Shanghai's Gu'cun park, tourists are also losing themselves in the fantastic cherry blossoms.