The Qingming Festival(Tomb-sweeping Day) is a traditional Chinese festival on the 5th April.

Qingming Festival is when Chinese people visit the graves or burial grounds of their ancestors. Traditionally, people brought a whole rooster with them to the graves visited, but the occasion has become less formal over time.

The festival originated from Hanshi Day ("day with cold food only"), a memorial day for Jie Zitui. Jie Zitui died in 636 BC in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was one of many followers of Duke Wen of Jin prior to his elevation the nobility. Once, during Wens 19 years of exile, they had no food and Jie prepared some meat soup for Wen. Wen enjoyed it a lot and wondered where Jie had obtained the soup. It turned out that Jie had cut a piece of meat from his own thigh to make the soup. Wen was so moved that he promised to reward him one day. However, Jie was not the type of person who sought rewards. Instead, he wanted only to help Wen to return to the State of Jin to become king. Once Wen became duke, Jie resigned and stayed away from him. Duke Wen rewarded the people who helped him in the previous decades, but for some reason he forgot to reward Jie, who by then had moved into the forest with his mother. Duke Wen went to the forest, but could not find Jie. Heeding suggestions from his officials, Duke Wen ordered men to set the forest on fire to force Jie out. However, Jie died in the fire. Feeling remorseful, Duke Wen ordered three days without fire to honor Jies memory. The city where Jie died is still called Jiexiu, ("the place Jie rests forever.")

Qingming has a tradition stretching back more than 2,500 years. Its origins are credited to the Tang Emperor Xuanzong in 732. Wealthy citizens in China were reportedly holding too many extravagant and ostentatiously expensive ceremonies in honor of their ancestors. Emperor Xuanzong, seeking to curb this practice, declared that respects could be formally paid at ancestors graves only on Qingming.