History, evolution of ancient festival

The Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, is a traditional Chinese event, which usually falls on April 5.

It originated from Hanshi Day, literally a day with cold food only, and has a tradition stretching back more than 2,500 years. On Hanshi Day, people were not allowed to use fires to cook, thus it was commonly known as the Cold Food Festival.

Eventually, 300 years ago, Hanshi Day was combined with the Qingming Festival, but later most people abandoned the cold food ritual.