Festival in China

2.3 The Clear and Bright Festival

•The Clear and Bright Festival falls around the 5th of April by the solar calendar.
•At this time, the spring begins and all plants on earth start to sprout with the freshness of the drizzling rain as well as the clearness and brightness of the day; hence the name of the Clear and Bright Festival.
•The day before the Clear and Bright Festival is the Cold Food Festival.
Qingming Jie (The Clear and Bright Festival )



•The most important and prevailing festival activity for the people is tending their ancestors' graves, therefore the festival is also called Tending the Grave Day.
•In addition, going for an outing in the country, flying kites, playing cockfighting and tug-of-war are also very popular festivities.

4.4 The Dragon Boat Festival

•Duanwu Jie (the Dragon Boat Festival) is on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.
•This is widely celebrated among the Chinese people.
•On this day, people go out to watch fantastic boat contests either on the lakes and rivers or on the land, and eat Zongzi, a special pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves.

Zongzi

2.5 The Mid-autumn Festival

•The Mid-autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, and is the second grandest festival next to the Spring Festival in China.
•Since it is in the middle of autumn when the moon is the brightest, clearest and most full, the festival is named the Mid-autumn Festival.
Zhong Qiu Jie (The Mid-autumn Festival)

•The full moon symbolizes reunion in China so it is also the time of family gatherings like the Spring Festival.
•Wherever they are, people will try their best to go back home for the family reunion on the exact day.
•Even if they can't, they will leave messages to their families and try to appreciate and enjoy the same moon but in a different place.
•Enjoying or appreciating, rather than worshiping, the moon in the mid-autumn has become one of the most popular festivities in China, both at the imperial court and among the common people.
•And the moon itself has always been the subject matter in many poems and literary works.
•In the meantime, since it is also the time when the Chinese sweet-scented osmanthus trees are in full bloom, people drink sweet-scented osmanthus wine while eating a special kind of sweet round cake called moon-cake, which is the best present for relatives and friends.

2.6 The Double Ninth Festival

•A festival for old people
•The 9th day of the 9th lunar month is the traditional Double Ninth Festival in China.
• On this day, when the chrysanthemums are in full bloom, people often go climbing in the mountains, enjoy the chrysanthemum and drinking chrysanthemum wine.
•Chinese people favor special numbers such as the even numbers, which are believed to be auspicious and can bring good luck to them.
Chongyang Jie (The Double Ninth Festival)

•So when it concerns numbers, usually the even numbers are the first choice, especially when presenting gifts.
• People would never buy things containing singular numbers, which would be regarded as ominous .
•Although not as favored as the even numbers, some singular numbers are still preferred, such as the number of nine, which is considered the greatest masculine one, symbolizing infinity.
•The legend has it that the zigzagging body of a dragon, which was the symbol of the powerful emperor in ancient China, looked like the number 9.
•Therefore, the number of nine has been closely related with the dragon and the emperor, and therefore regarded as the royal number and auspicious.
•Since there were two masculine numbers in the 9th day of the 9th lunar month, the date was called double 9th as well as double masculine.