The Exotic Qingming of Overseas Chinese

　　China News Agency, Beijing, April 5th,

　　China News Agency reporter Xu Wenxin

　　Tomb-sweeping day today, should send a memorial.

For overseas Chinese, this miss comes even more profoundly.

Under the epidemic, they have not returned to their hometowns for a long time, so they can only reminisce about their deceased people and send their nostalgia in a foreign country.

Shen finally pursues the distance and asks the ancestors to find their roots

　　Tomb-sweeping Day is an important node for the overseas Chinese to carefully pursue the future. They sweep the tombs of their relatives, worship their ancestors, and cherish the memory of the early Chinese immigrants.

　　Every Qingming Festival, old Chinese living overseas often bring their younger generations to pay homage to their ancestors – wipe tombstones, send incense candles, arrange flowers, and tell the entrepreneurial stories of their ancestors over and over again.

The deceased and the living, sadness and joy, intersect with each other. At this moment, the new generation of Chinese people perceives the tradition of Qingming and completes the cognition of family culture.

　　If we say that tomb-sweeping is a tribute to the deceased, then root-seeking is a consolation to the living.

Overseas Chinese often participate in worship activities for the ancestors of the Chinese nation in Qingming. Their love for their homeland and their passion for connecting with the people of their ancestral (home) country are released in the activities.

This year, the Qingming Gong sacrifice ceremony to Xuanyuan Huangdi came as scheduled, and overseas Chinese at home and abroad will connect online and offline to participate in this traditional event of "tracing the source, seeking the roots, concentrating the heart, and casting the soul".

　　Commemorating the ancestors of immigrants is also one of the activities of the Chinese Qingming Festival.

The San Jose Huagong Cemetery in California, USA, recently welcomed a group of overseas Chinese who came to pay their respects.

Nearly 300 Chinese workers are buried in this cemetery. A hundred years ago, they contributed to the construction of the western United States, but they died in a foreign land because of the "Chinese Exclusion Act" and the fire of San Jose Chinatown.

The French city of Arras also held an event recently to commemorate the contribution of Chinese workers to the First World War.

Overseas Chinese in New South Wales, Australia held a flower-laying ceremony in front of the Sydney Chinese Soldiers Monument... Overseas Chinese remember history, cherish the memory of martyrs, and pray for peace in these activities.

"Fancy" Sacrificial Sweep

　　With the deepening of the integration of the overseas Chinese and the living in the country, the traditional Chinese custom of sacrificial sweeping and overseas culture have been integrated, forming a sacrificial sweeping method of reserving the same while reserving differences and having different opinions.

　　In Malaysia, the Chinese public cemetery is called "Yishan", and local people often say that during the Qingming Festival, "go up the mountain to sweep the tomb" or "worship the mountain".

According to local customs, before sweeping the tomb, the god of the earth, Da Bo Gong, must be worshipped.

The overseas Chinese follow the local customs. After worshipping the gods of the land such as Uncle Uncle, they go to the cemetery to worship, or worship their relatives at the table under the Linggu Pagoda.

In addition, in recent years, Yishan, Guangdong, which has a history of more than 100 years, has launched the concept of "Green Qingming, Civilized Grave Sweeping", advocates reducing worship items, and calls on the public to clean up the remnants of sacrifice and sweeping by themselves.

Local Chinese have taken action to support it.

　　Some overseas Chinese in Japan choose to worship at home. Some people buy miniature models of cemeteries, inlay photos of their deceased relatives in them, and use the models for sacrifice; Commemorative.

　　In addition, some foreign parks and temples have launched sacrifice services for the Chinese community to facilitate local overseas Chinese to remember their ancestors in various ways.

"Cloud" sends thoughts and feelings are not faded

　　The new crown epidemic has interrupted the return of many overseas Chinese to their hometowns to worship their ancestors, and methods of expressing condolences such as "cloud sacrificial sweeping" and "substituting sacrificial sweeping" have emerged.

　　Qingtian, the hometown of overseas Chinese, has 330,000 overseas Chinese all over the world. In order to meet the needs of the people for sacrifice and sweeping, Qingtian has launched a "cloud sacrifice" service from 2020, where people can worship heroes and ancestors online.

　　More and more regions have launched online platforms for sacrifice and sweeping, and overseas Chinese can express their thoughts about the deceased at their fingertips through the Internet.

In fact, as long as you keep your love for your loved ones in your heart, it is the best memorial, whether it is a tomb sweeping or a surrogate sacrifice or a remote sacrifice.

　　Under the epidemic, the activity of asking ancestors to find their roots has also opened an online channel.

The online platform of "Zhonghua Cloud Ancestor Sacrifice" has expanded the site of the public sacrifice ceremony to the cloud. Compatriots who are unable to visit the Huangdi Mausoleum sacrifice site in person can worship Xuanyuan Huangdi through the Internet cloud.

　　"The deceased are long gone, and the living are like a gentleman." For overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese, no matter what kind of sacrificial method is used, their mourning for the deceased, their identification with the nation and the continuation of their culture will remain unchanged.

(over)