by Admin on 5/4/09

Tomb Weeping Festival
in Chinese Capital
A Thousand Years Ago

Among countless Chinese artistic masterpieces Tomb Weeping Festival Scroll (Qingming Scroll, 清明上河图) is one of those that are best known and most praised. Created by Zhang Zeduan (张择端) of North Song Dynasty (北宋 960-1127), the whole painting is sized at a massive 0.248 x 5.28 meters, depicting in a vivid details the urban and rural scenes of the then Chinese capital Bianliang (汴梁, at today's Kaifeng 开封) and its outskirts on the Tomb Sweeping Festival day a thousand years ago.

For Chinese, Tomb Sweeping Festival is a time to pay tributes to one's ancestors and deceased family members by visiting and sweeping their graveyards and presenting relevant offerings, from incense, food, paper-cut daily accessories to flowers. The long tradition as such is believed by many to be one of the crucial factors that have contributed to the exceptional longevity of the Chinese civilization and its extraordinary ability to undergo self-renewal and regeneration, as the link in the time dimension is vigorously reinforced annually.

The festival is half a month after the Spring Equinox, and usually falls on 5 April; but sometimes, it occurs on 4 April, like this year. Since 2008, Tomb Sweeping Festival has officially become a public holiday in the mainland China.

The followings are clips from the Tomb Sweeping Festival Scroll:

The central boulevard in the capital is broad enough to accommodate a royal carriage drawn by 20 horses

The boulevard is also a main commercial street with teahouses, restaurants, guesthouses and shops lining up on both sides.

Residential areas are behind the shopfront.

Large-scaled courtyard houses normally open to a quiet street away from the central boulevard

Private gardens of the huge compound are further located at the back of the dwellings

On his year's Tomb Sweeping Festival, a historical scene was recreated in provincial capital Kaifeng, previously the North Song capital Bianliang, with artists wearing Song-style customs and performing the activities portrayed in the celebrated Tomb Sweeping Festival Scroll.

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