Qingming Festival in the eyes of foreigners

Editor's note: Qingming, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, has been a traditional festival for Chinese to commemorate and pay respects to their deceased relatives and ancestors. Our foreign readers share their thoughts on the festival.

objchina (Nigeria)

I once caught a glimpse of how the festival was being observed. It was a wonderful but solemn festival, because people were remembering their loved ones who had traveled to the great beyond. I saw what Chinese people were doing with flowers, brooms and burnt fake paper money, as well as burnt paper iPhones. I was told they were offering those fake paper iPhones and money to the dead so that they could use them in the land of the dead.