Qingming Festival 2024: Observing Tomb Sweeping Day in China

The ODM office in Zhuhai, China will be closed on Thursday, April 4th to observe Qingming Festival, while the VN office will maintain its regular operation.

The Qingming Festival 清明节 or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day in English, is a traditional Chinese festival that takes place on the 104th day after the winter solstice. The date is usually April 4th or 5th in the Gregorian calendar. It’s a time for people to pay their respects to their ancestors who have passed away.

The Qingming festival falls on April 4th this year. Its name comes from the Chinese characters traditionally used to denote the fifth solar term — qing, meaning clear and bright, and ming, for pure and clean.

The Origin of the Qingming Festival

Qing Ming Festival has been observed for over 2500 years and is one of China’s oldest festivals, along with Winter Solstice (Dong Zhi) and Dragon Boat Festival.

Like many traditional Chinese festivals, Qing Ming has been celebrated by ethnic Chinese all around the world. For example, it’s widely observed in Singapore and Malaysia, where there are significant numbers of overseas Chinese people.

There are a lot of interesting customs during the Qingming Festival; some of them are:

  • Offering sacrifices to ancestors (祭祀)
  • Fire prohibition
  • Spring outing (踏青)
  • Kite (风筝) flying
  • Chicken fighting
  • Eating cold food (冷食)
  • Tree planting
  • Willow tree planting (插柳)
  • Willow shooting
  • Playing Cuju (蹴鞠)
People usually clean graves and burn paper offerings to ensure their loved ones live well in the afterlife.

The Most Important Custom of the Qingming Festival

The most significant part of the festival is the act of Sao mu (扫墓), or sweeping the graves. It is a ritual as old as time.

In ancient China, people believed that one’s soul would find peace after death only if the living properly provided for it.

People were very superstitious about ghosts and gods, believing many kinds of gods existed in heaven and earth. They believed that evil spirits often haunted ancestral tombs. Therefore, from time to time, they would pray for peace at home to avoid disasters and take the opportunity to clean up their ancestral tombs.

The act of tomb sweeping was seen as an expression of filial piety and hope that one’s descendants would similarly honour one’s soul in generations to come.

People usually clean graves and burn paper offerings to ensure their loved ones live well in the afterlife.

People clean graves and burn paper offerings to ensure their loved ones live well in the afterlife.

The original tradition was to burn stacks of paper printed with currency symbols called 冥纸 / Míng zhǐ. It is believed that this money would then be accessible to ancestors to spend in their afterlife.

Stay Updated With China Holidays

There is no doubt that China is a large and rapidly growing economy. It has become a popular place for both importing and exporting goods, and many new startups are looking to the region for both suppliers and customers.

It is important for businesses to be aware of the Chinese holidays and their dates so as to make their business more favourable in the region. Why?

There are two things to consider:

  1. Employees may not come to work during the festive season.
  2. Your business partners or clients may not be available during the holidays.

The following is a list of national holiday observances in China.

China Holidays for 2023. Please note that these are the dates for the ODM group of companies in the region.

Other big holidays in China to look out for!

February – Lunar New Year

June – Dragon Boat Festival

China Golden Week Holiday

October – The Golden Week 

Our Team is Here to Help!

Here at ODM, we’re working hard to make sure you get the best, exceptional branded merchandise that will put your brand in the limelight in today’s competitive market. Together with our design agency, Mindsparkz, we ensure that we are always ahead of the game to guarantee that you will get new and innovative products for your marketing campaigns and promotions.

During one of China’s largest events based on the lunar calendar, our office in Vietnam is still here to answer any of your inquiries or attend to your request.

You can also reach out to our social media accounts.

Asian countries have a wide variety of cultures and religions. These make it essential for companies to get updated with Asian holidays in order to handle their business smoothly.

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2024-03-27T16:52:23+08:00

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