Honoring ancestors and spring outings mark China’s Qingming Festival holidays

BEIJING, Apr 5 (APP): Paying tribute to dead and spring outings marked this year’s three-day Qingming Festival holidays that started yesterday. The Qingming Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, was observed on April 4 this year. The festival is a time for families across the country to pay tribute to the dead, honor their ancestors and go out to enjoy spring.

More than 297 million passenger trips by various means of transportation are estimated to be made on the first day of the holiday, according to data from the Ministry of Transport. Besides mourning the dead and honoring ancestors, Chinese people also take the three-day holiday as a chance to enjoy some leisure time. Many tourists kicked off the holiday with short-distance train journeys with the two-hour high-speed rail circle standing out. To ensure a smooth and convenient travel experience, the authorities took multiple measures. The railway authorities said they planned to add some 1,073 passenger trains on Thursday. And in scenic spots in Kaifeng City, central China’s Henan Province, local authorities announced 44 free parking lots and increased the number of berths by more than 7,000 for tourists. Besides, to facilitate the travel of the owners of electrical vehicles, who constituted part of the around 277 million self-driving trips during the holiday, the power departments in provinces including Hebei and Jiangsu added charging piles in highway service areas to alleviate charging pressure during peak hours.