Middle school students pay silent tribute to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives bravely in the Chinese people's war of resistance against Japanese aggression (1931-45) in Beijing on April 4, 2023. Photo: Li Hao/GT

As a day of remembrance, the Qingming Festival or Tomb Sweeping Day which was commemorated on Wednesday, April 5, this year, saw the festival celebrated in tradition and modern eco-friendly ways. 

The centuries-old Qingming Festival - one of the most important events on the Chinese calendar - is a traditional Chinese festival in which people pay tribute to their ancestors. It's also a day for people to commemorate those who have sacrificed their precious lives for the country. 

Accompanied by the magnificent song "March of the Volunteers," people lined up and stood in silence to pay tribute to the revolutionary martyrs at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance against Japanese Aggression in Beijing on Tuesday. 

Despite the heavy downpour that day, a reporter from the Global Times noticed that both the elderly and the young were in solemn attendance at the outdoor event and some couldn't help but shed tears. A 95-year-old veteran led student representatives in presenting flowers. 

Over 600 representatives from all walks of life attended the ceremony. According to the museum, it has hosted similar educational activities for 15 consecutive years since 2009 during the Qingming Festival. 

After the optimization of China's COVID-19 response measures, this year has also witnessed more on-site memorial activities. Bouquets of white flowers, paper money, and an abundance of food were seen placed in front of tombstones across China.  

According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, a total of 40,544 funeral service agencies across the country opened on-site memorial services on Wednesday, receiving about 14.97 million people and 3.06 million vehicles. 

Meanwhile, about 24 million domestic tourist trips were made during the Qingming Festival, up 22.7 percent from 2022, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The trips brought in 6.52 billion yuan ($945 million) in tourism revenue, an increase of 29 percent year-on-year, said the ministry.

While the traditional activities for the Qingming Festival often involve tomb sweeping, outings, and other outdoor activities such as kite flying among many more, the festival has now adopted a more eco-friendly and high-tech route. 

Promoting eco-friendly burials is part of China's funeral reform, which embodies social, ideological and cultural progress, and is of great significance to environmental protection and green development work.

Official statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed that funeral service institutions across the country opened 1,414 online platforms for people to pay tribute to their ancestors, with 2.47 million people choosing this virtual format. 

Funeral service agencies nationwide inturred 28,900 sets of cremains, of which 1,263 were in green and ecological ways such as sea burial and tree burial, accounting for 4.38 percent of the total.

PLA Army soldiers lay flowers in honor of martyrs at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance against Japanese Aggression in Beijing on April 4, 2023. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Students listen to an introduction to the history of martyrs at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance against Japanese Aggression in Beijing, on April 4, 2023.Photo: Li Hao/GT

The tombstones of unknown martyrs at the Red Army Martyr Cemetery of Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base in Tongjiang county, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, are painted red by veterans, on April 5, 2023. Photo: IC

Students offer flowers to revolutionary martyrs in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, on April 5, 2023. Photo: IC
 

People dressed in traditional Chinese costume participate in a Qingming Festival ceremony in Sichuan Province, on April 5, 2023. Photo: IC