Focus

Sweeping the tomb of grandmother and grandfather

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-13 10:17

Hundreds of thousands of people paid a visit to the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery during this year's Tomb-Sweeping Festival. People use cloth and cotton balls to clean the tombstone and place flowers on it afterwards. Zou Hong / China Daily

Hundreds of thousands of people paid a visit to the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery - the largest of its kind in the city - during this year's Tomb-Sweeping Festival.

METRO's Wang Wei went to the cemetery on April 4 with her family to pay her respects to her grandparents.

April 4, 7:00 am

At my parents' house

The family gets up early and packs the stuff we will take to the cemetery, including a bottle of water, a cloth, scissors and some cotton balls, which we will use to clean the tombstones.

Yesterday I booked a small bouquet of flowers, mostly chrysanthemums and carnations, at a flower shop near my apartment for 30 yuan.

We never buy flowers at the cemetery because of the relatively high price and the long queues at the flower stands and we stopped buying artificial flowers five years ago because fresh flowers were available at a cheaper price.

We stopped setting out offerings of food years ago since it rotted easily and was difficult to clean up.

When I was a little girl, Tomb-Sweeping Festival used to be one of my favorite occasions because back then I didn't have much idea of "death" and I got to spend some fun time with my uncles' families.

I would follow my mother to prepare all kinds of offerings and I would meet my two cousins and have a big meal with them after paying respects to my grandparents.

These days, I rarely got chances to meet my cousins since they all live overseas and preparing offerings becomes a job just for myself.

We collect the flowers and head for Babaoshan cemetery at 7:30 am.

8:00 am

Parking lot at the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

We don't park the car inside the cemetery because we know it will be busy and worry that it will take ages to find a parking place. So we park at the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

It is just a bus stop away from the cemetery and is free of charge.

8:15 am

The front gate of the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery

We take a bus to the cemetery and meet my uncle's family at the front gate.

The sun is shining and my mind is very tranquil as we walk along the path between the rows of pine and cypress trees.

The cemetery is already bustling - there are tomb sweepers, traffic policemen diverting traffic, volunteers and staff workers giving directions, as well as firefighters and doctors.

8:25 am

Inside the cemetery

We rinse the cloth and cotton balls with alcohol and clean the tombstone then wash the cloth with water and sweep the tombstone one more time. Then we place the flower bouquets on it.

We all stand in a row and bow three times in front of my grandparents' tombstone and talk to them silently about what happened to us last year.

I tell my grandparents not to worry about me because I have a comfortable life right now. I wished them to a happy life in another world.

9:00 am

In the car heading home

We leave the cemetery before 9 am. It is getting increasingly busy as more tomb sweepers flock in.

I feel a sense of relief as I finished an important mission of the year.

May my grandparents rest in peace. I will come back to see them the same time next year.

10:00 am

At my parents' house

My uncle's family come over and we have a small family gathering.

Although we live in the same city, we don't see each other quite often because of our busy schedules. We cherish the moment of a big family getting together.