Over 13m Chinese honor deceased during Tomb-Sweeping holiday

BEIJING -- A total of 13.4 million Chinese visited 150 major cemeteries to honor their deceased relatives during the three-day Tomb-Sweeping holiday that ended Monday, the authority said.

During the Tomb-Sweeping Day that falls on Monday this year, over 5.4 million people visited the 150 burial sites across the country, the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) said.

It added that the aggregate number of people visiting the burial sites this year increased by 3.7 percent compared to the same period of last year.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming, usually falls on early April, when people will commemorate their deceased loved ones by visiting their tombs and offering sacrifices.

The ministry said some modern ways for honoring the deceased and burial have emerged this year, such as "sweeping tombs" on Internet, sea-burial and others.