tens of millions of people in china marked the annual 'tomb sweeping festival' this weekend by travelling home to their ancestral villages families across the country descended on graveyards to clean their tombs of the deceased and honour their loved ones, burning fake paper money and leaving their favourite food and drink to ensure they are not poor or hungry in the afterlife as part of the qingming festival – which means 'pure brightness' – china celebrates the coming spring and the beauty of nature, says people’s daily online a grand and colourful ceremony was held in honour of the 'yellow emperor' huangdi in huangling county, shaanxi province  huangdi is considered the ancestor of the qingming festival which sees the chinese mark the start of spring with outdoor celebrations  lines of dancers take to the stage as part of the celebration, which was watched by thousands of people during the public holiday  around 13 billion chinese people marked the qingming festival, a three day holiday in china, by watching parades and travelling home  traditional chinese dancers wear intricate gowns as they swirl and dance in the sunshine during the celebrations in the city of huangi  an actor dressed as a soldier takes a break from the celebration to check his phone  in shaanxi province, a huge outdoor celebration was held as part of the qingming festival and in honour of the 'yellow emperor' huang di, considered the founding father of the chinese nation a bell was rung from the top of the city's temple, while the drums were struck 34 times, one for each of china's provinces including hong kong, macao, and taiwan the festival falls in the first week of april every year, and is one of the 24 chinese solar terms   the date from which temperatures rise, rainfall increases and marks an important time for the land to be prepared for the sowing of seeds hundreds of visitors filmed the celebrations on their smart phones, as a colourful inflatable dragon dances in the sky it is said that the yellow emperor huang di did not die, but instead ascended into heaven on the back of a dragon   making the creature a chinese symbol  participants carry platters of fruit as part of the ceremony in the central china, which had hundreds of dancers and performers  huangdi, the yellow emperor, is a legendary chinese sovereign in the culture, a powerful symbol of the qing dynasty that ruled 1644 1912  a young performer casts a smile on a guard, as she fixed her hair during the qingming festival celebrations  dancers make offerings to the water in a service at the duijang dam for qingming   praying for favourable weather for their crops  opinion on the origins of the festival differ, but it can be traced back to the tang dynasty which ruled china between 618 and 907 while millions of chinese people made the trip to their ancestral villages, opportunistic traders took advantage of some people's inability to make the visit   advertising 'tomb sweeping packages' which include weeping, praying and cleaning depending on the package, costing between 100 yuan and 1,300 yuan, the buyer receives a commemorative photo of the occasion a record breaking 365 million passenger trips were made over the weekend and public holiday   up 58 per cent on last year and an all time high the rise is partially due to the construction of new railways in recent years, particularly high speed railway, say commentators a couple pray as they burn paper money during qingming the traditional practice is to ensure the dead are comfortable in the afterlife  a puff of smoke floats above the tomb as a woman burns paper money for her ancestor, while cleaning around the grave in shanghai  more than a billion chinese people went back to their ancestral villages to visit and tidy the graves of their ancestors for the public holiday  primary school students in red army uniforms clean tombs at a martyrs' cemetery ahead of the qingming festival in yecheng, xinjang  survivors and victims of the nanjing massacre carry flowers and mourn the deceased as part of 'tomb sweeping day' in china  the young children stand to attention and pay their respects to the deceased in the martyrs' cemetery in yecheng 
the coming spring chinese april every year three day last day the qingming festival   '
millions of chinese enjoy the qingming festival   'pure brightness festival'   to celebrate the coming spring  last day of festival sees chinese families visit their ancestors' graves to clean, burn paper money and pray  record number of journeys made by chinese over the three day public holiday, which falls in april every year 