Qingming Festival

Tending the graves

Family members journey to cemeteries, hillsides, or urban columbaria to maintain burial grounds. They clear weeds, sweep away dust, and wash headstones before setting out ceremonial offerings. Relatives present prepared dishes, light incense sticks, and burn paper money or miniature paper models of houses and cars for the afterlife. Family members then bow or kowtow before the grave according to seniority, showing respect for their forebears. In some places, people place fresh willow branches on door frames or wear them in their hair to protect against misfortune.

Cold food and royal decrees

The holiday developed from the ancient Hanshi or Cold Food custom, linked to the loyal nobleman Jie Zitui during the Spring and Autumn period. Following his death in a hillside forest fire, people commemorated his memory by avoiding lit cooking fires. Over time, ancestral ceremonies became increasingly lavish and competitive among wealthy households. In 732 CE, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty sought to limit this extravagance by declaring that families could formally honour their ancestors only once each year during the Qingming season. This decree established a lasting calendar tradition.

Springtime outdoor pastimes

Beyond grave rituals, Qingming celebrates the onset of warm spring weather before farm plowing starts. Families spend the afternoon outdoors walking in nature and flying decorative kites, often designed like opera figures or animals. In earlier dynasties, the holiday included massive tug-of-war matches encouraged by the imperial court, as well as football matches. In tea-growing areas, the festival marks a key division in the agricultural calendar: green tea leaves plucked prior to this date are made into a tender and highly valued drink called pre-Qingming tea.

Traditional holiday foods

Distinct regional foods are made to observe the season. In mainland China, families eat qingtuan, which are sweet green dumplings made from glutinous rice coloured with Chinese mugwort or barley grass. In Taiwan, a herbal treat called caozaiguo is prepared with Jersey cudweed. After ritual dishes are presented to the ancestors at graves or home altars, family members gather to share the food together in a communal feast, reinforcing family unity across generations.

How Qingming Festival is kept

Families assemble early in the morning to visit ancestral graves or columbarium niches. They pull weeds, sweep away dirt, and clean the memorial markers. Members arrange food, tea, and wine before the headstone, light incense, and burn spirit paper alongside paper models of daily goods. Relatives take turns kowtowing before the tomb in order of age. Once ancestral rites are complete, the family shares the ceremonial food in a picnic or clan banquet, then spends the afternoon outdoors flying kites.

When and where

Qingming falls on the opening day of the fifth solar term in the Chinese lunisolar calendar, exactly fifteen days after the spring equinox. On the solar calendar, this corresponds to 4, 5, or 6 April.

The festival is kept throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. It is also actively observed by Chinese communities across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Singapore, and has related expressions in the Ryukyu Islands.

What Qingming Festival means

The festival embodies filial piety, a central Confucian value emphasizing gratitude and respect for one's forebears. People believe ancestors maintain a continued existence in the afterlife and rely on living relatives for care and remembrance. Fulfilling these duties keeps families connected across generations and ensures ancestral blessings for the year ahead.

On the table

• Qingtuan
• Caozaiguo
• Pre-Qingming green tea

Days Qingming Festival is marked

Qingming Festival dates: 2026, 2027, 2028

Questions people ask about Qingming Festival

See also

Ghost FestivalA full-moon night in the seventh lunar month for feeding ghosts and guiding souls homeMid-Sha'banAn Islamic night of prayer, remembrance, and seeking divine forgiveness.DiwaliA five-day festival of lights celebrated across India and its diaspora to mark the victory of light over darkness.NowruzThe Iranian new year at the March equinox, kept with fire, greenery and picnics

Good reading and sources

• Qingming Festival on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-04.