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This weekend marks the Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival. Also called the Tomb Sweeping Festival, Qingming is one of the most important festivals in China with a history of over 2,000 years. During the Qingming Festival people visit the graves of their ancestors or beloved ones to clean them and leave offerings such as food and flowers to those who have passed. People will not cook on this day and only cold food is served.

To learn more about the Qingming Festival visit the China.org.cn China Wiki article Qingming Festival and see the China Daily Photos: Qingming Festival.

For some insights into how the festival is celebrated see the China Daily articles Martyrs remembered ahead of Qingming, Painting on eggs for Qingming Festival, Mountains and parks prepare for Qingming and Virtual memorial, and the Shenzhen Daily articles Celebrating a traditional day and Pak Tai Temple, Xixiang.

The National Museum of China, located to the east of Tian’anmen Square in central Beijing, has been closed for almost four years while a major expansion and renovation has taken place. It is now ready for its grand reopening day on 27 March. The museum has nearly tripled in size from 65,000 square meters to almost 200,000 square meters, making it the world’s largest museum. After already visiting two outstanding museums in China – the Shenzhen Museum and Henan Museum – I can’t wait to visit the National Museum on a future trip to China. It will undoubtedly be an outstanding experience, and probably require two or three days to take in such a great range of exhibits. Find out more in the CNTV Culture Express stories National Museum of China reopens, Inside the China’s National Museum and A centennial history of the National Museum of China.

A weekend trip to Liangzhu, in suburban Hangzhou’s Yuhang district, will not only take you to blooming orchids and green countryside, but also 5,000 years back to China’s primitive civilization. On 8 March the Liangzhu National Heritage Park officially opened to the public. Visitors can see ancient stone walls, archeological sites and the Liangzhu Museum, where scenes of daily life have been reconstructed. Read more in the China Daily article 50 Centuries Later.

Fuzhou, capital of East China’s Fujian province, is carrying out an ambitious plan to renovate its 163-kilometer-long urban canal system. The project is expected to re-establish the city’s waterway transport in the next few years, and in the long term its charm as the “Oriental Venice”. Read more in the China Daily article Fuzhou plans to restore the romance of its waterways.