(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-05 14:14

BEIJING-- More than 100 million people mourned for the deceased at graveyards or memorial parks and halls on Qingming, or grave-sweeping day, on Friday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs estimated.

Figures from the ministry's 150 monitoring places nationwide showed memorial sites in the country received more than 5.6 million people and nearly 600,000 cars on Friday, up 494 percent and 441 percent respectively over the previous day.

About 72 percent of the people came during the rush hour, from 8 a.m. till midday, according to the ministry.

The State Council, the Cabinet, revised the nation's official holiday schedule last year to add three traditional festivals -- Qingming, Duanwu and Zhongqiu (Mid-autumn Festival) -- in response to public calls. It also changed the length of the May Day holiday.

The Chinese capital Beijing saw on Friday a peak of tomb-sweeping activities with over 600,000 people visited graveyards in its suburbs. In the area of Babaoshan where the biggest memorial park situated, there were 118,000 visits.

Shanghai, China's largest metropolis, saw about 2.37 million tomb-sweepers and 189,000 vehicles on Friday, an increase of 55 percent and 93 percent year-on-year.