Qingming Festival, also known as the Outing Festival, Qingming Festival, March Festival, Ancestor Worship Festival, etc., is a festival for worshipping, worshipping ancestors and sweeping tombs between April 4 and 6 every year. Qingming Festival originated from the ancestral beliefs and spring sacrifice customs in ancient times. It has both natural and humanistic connotations. It is not only a natural solar term point, but also a traditional festival. Qingming Festival is known as China's four major traditional festivals together with the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.
Qingming Festival is said to have originated from the "tomb sacrifice" ceremony of ancient emperors and generals, which began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. Qingming Festival was originally just the name of a solar term. Its transformation into a festival to commemorate ancestors is related to the Cold Food Festival. The Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival are two different festivals. In the Tang Dynasty, the day for worshipping and sweeping tombs was designated as the Cold Food Festival. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Qingming Festival gradually rose from a subordinate status to a status that replaced the Cold Food Festival. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the old system of the previous generation was generally inherited, and the custom of worshiping ancestors and mourning deceased relatives on Qingming Festival was still popular. During the Republic of China period, Qingming Festival was designated as Arbor Day in 1915, and the history of Qingming Festival as Arbor Day ended in 1928. Influenced by Han culture, China's ethnic minorities also have the custom of celebrating Qingming Festival. Although the customs vary from place to place, tomb sweeping and ancestor worship, outings are the basic themes of Qingming Festival. In addition, there are many outdoor recreational activities such as swinging, kicking balls, flying kites, planting trees, tug-of-war, and eating Zituiyan, Liru, Qingtuan, etc. In addition to China, there are some countries and regions in the world that also celebrate Qingming Festival, such as Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. On May 20, 2006, the Qingming Festival declared by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists. In order to promote and inherit the traditional culture of the nation, in 2008, Qingming Festival was added as a national statutory holiday and one day off was given. With the weekend adjustment, there are three days off.
