China sees tomb-sweeping activities peaking on first day of holiday

Students offer flowers at a cemetery for martyrs in Huaibei, east China's Anhui Province, April 1, 2021. (Photo by Wan Shanchao/Xinhua)

BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China saw the peak of tomb-sweeping activities on Saturday, the first day of the three-day Tomb-sweeping Day holiday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Noting that this year's Tomb-sweeping Day is the first of its kind observed under regular epidemic control, the ministry said that over 32,000 funeral-service agencies with on-site tomb-sweeping services were open across the country on Saturday, receiving about 19.3 million people.

Meanwhile, about 1.85 million Chinese people opted to mourn the deceased through 1,900 online platforms, the ministry added.

It pointed out that environmentally friendly tomb-sweeping activities were promoted nationwide for this year's holiday, making the offering of flowers, online mourning and other activities a new trend.

Expecting the tomb-sweeping activities to continue for the next two days, the ministry reminded the public to pay close attention to the local epidemic situation, follow personal-protection measures, devise their itineraries to avoid peak times and mourn the deceased in a civilized and low-carbon way.