Chapter I
What it celebrates
Qingming joins two things: the honouring of the dead, rooted in the Confucian virtue of filial piety, and the celebration of spring. It grew out of the older Cold Food Festival, when fires were put out and only cold food was eaten.
Remembering ancestors keeps the family whole across generations, and the dead in turn are believed to bless the living.
Chapter II
How it is kept
Families travel to graves to clear weeds, repair and clean them, and offer food, wine, flowers and incense. Paper money and other paper offerings are burned. Afterwards there may be a picnic or a walk in the spring countryside, and children fly kites. Willow branches are hung on doors to ward off evil.
Chapter III
Around the world
Cemeteries across China and its diaspora are crowded during Qingming, and in recent years some families have turned to online memorials and flowers instead of burning paper.