China News Agency, Beijing, April 4th (Reporter Wu Kan) Today at Ching Ming, the way overseas Chinese and Chinese people remember their deceased under the epidemic is different from previous years. Although they cannot return to their hometowns to worship their ancestors, they use various methods such as "cloud sacrifices and sweeps." grief.
Light a joss stick for the deceased relatives, spread the loess towards the home, and tell the children the stories of the ancestors... On Qingming Day, Lu Jinlian, the president of the Chinese Traditional Culture Association in Zurich, Switzerland, used this way to remember the ancestors at home.
Although they have lived in Switzerland for many years, worshipping ancestors during the Qingming Festival is still an important annual family activity for the Lu Jinlian family.
"The farther we travel, the stronger the nostalgia. In previous years, our family would go to Fo Guang Shan, Switzerland, to pay homage to the deceased. This year, due to the epidemic, we will pay homage to our deceased at home." According to the custom, they would take their children to sweep the graves and lay flowers in the Qingming Festival, or pray for their departed relatives in the church, or ascend to look into the distance, and ask floating clouds to bring the wandering grief to the buds on the graves of their hometowns.
In Arras, the capital of Calais in northern France, French overseas Chinese and local politicians came to the memorial to the Chinese Workers of the First World War on the eve of Qingming Festival.
During the event, Chinese and French friends jointly read the memorial speech of Chinese workers in World War I, and unveiled a new plaque introducing Chinese workers' deeds to commemorate the contributions of Chinese workers to the victory of World War I.
In Malaysia, in order to prevent the epidemic, the government has formulated strict Qingming Festival sweeping regulations, including the time for sweeping graves in Yishan within 90 minutes, and no more than 6 people in each family sweeping graves.
Malaysian Chinese strictly abide by the regulations and simplify the tomb-sweeping procedures, but the sincerity of ancestor worship remains unchanged.
Zhou Bangjian, a Chinese who lives in Sitiawan, Perak, Malaysia, went to Manjung Gutian Cemetery in Perak to sweep his grave on the eve of Ching Ming Festival.
He said that this year only he and his wife went to the cemetery to clean up the cemetery, arrange food and sacrifices, and quickly complete the worship.
"Understand that the measures to limit the number of tomb sweepers are for epidemic prevention, so we are willing to comply and complete the purpose of sweeping tombs."
In order to give the public a more comprehensive understanding of the customs and culture of Chinese Ching Ming, Singapore Chinese Cultural Center recently launched a series of online activities to introduce the origin of Ching Ming Festival and the customs of Chinese ancestor worship.
Although the government introduced strict ancestor worship and epidemic prevention regulations, overseas Chinese went to public columbariums and Choa Chu Kang cemeteries in Singapore to sweep graves under the premise of following the epidemic prevention regulations.
Argentine compatriot Liu Fangyong spoke with his parents in China before Qingming and commissioned them to go to the ancestor’s tomb in his hometown to make sacrifices.
"In previous years I would take the time to return to China during the Qingming Festival and make a special trip back to the countryside to pay homage to my ancestors. This year, due to the epidemic, I cannot return to China, so I can only ask my parents to go there for them.
Liu Fangyong told reporters that overseas Chinese in Argentina attach great importance to traditional festivals, and those who cannot return home on Ching Ming Festival generally entrust their relatives to sweep the tomb on their behalf.
"There are also some relatives of overseas Chinese who are buried in Argentina. They will go to the cemetery in Qingming to worship and offer a bunch of flowers, and some Chinese will burn some paper money on their balconies in memory of their loved ones."
Zhou Jianhong, president of the Qingtian Association of Barcelona, Spain, used the online memorial platform "Cloud Sacrifice", an online memorial platform for overseas Zhejiang folks from Qingming. He expressed his thoughts about the dead relatives through cloud offerings, scents on the cloud, candles on the cloud, and writing messages.
In order to meet the needs of overseas Chinese for sacrifice and sweeping during the epidemic, many overseas Chinese hometowns have launched "cloud sacrifice sweeping" and "representative sweeping" services.
Jiangmen opened an online sacrifice and sweeping platform, many cemeteries in Foshan launched services such as free offering of flowers and sweeps, and Fuzhou opened an online sacrifice sweeping platform for the "Ching Ming Memorial".
"This method of sacrifice and sweeping meets the needs of the vast number of overseas Chinese to express their thoughts, and it is green and environmentally friendly, and it is not restricted by time and space." Zhou Jianhong said that due to the epidemic, he has not returned home for two years to make sacrifices and pays homage in the "cloud". Relieve the feeling of missing loved ones.
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