Hong Kong 4th April
Taiwan 5th April
China 4th to 6th April
Ching Ming literally translates as ‘clean and bright ‘, and this is the day that Chinese people sweep the graves of their ancestors. But the tidy up doesn’t end there; the festival is an important ancestor worship ritual that also requires families to weed graves, touch up headstone inscriptions, make offerings of food and light incense.
Chingming
Traditionally, many people burn paper offerings at gravesites during the festival for their ancestors to use in the afterlife. The most popular of these used to be faux cash, but it appears the consumer demands of the earthly realm have crossed over into the hereafter, because people in Hong Kong nowadays also burn paper imitations of mobile phones, laptops, refrigerators, air-conditioners and even luxury cars.
This date is also indicated on traditional Japanese calendars, where their culture has a similar observance. In Korean culture, the observance is known as Hansik.
