As one of the most important festivals in the Chinese calendar, Qingming, also known as Pure Brightness Festival or Tomb Sweeping Day, falls on April 5 this year.

Started in the Zhou Dynasty (1,046 B.C. -256B.C.), Qingming is held to remember loved ones and ancestors. People visit family graveyards to clean tombs and pay respect to the dead by bringing offerings of food, wine and paper resembling money.

Falling in early spring when temperatures start to rise, rainfall increases and crops and flowers begin to blossom the festival also has close ties with agriculture and is a seasonal symbol.

The festival is a chance for families to join in the custom of "taqing", spring outings, where people get out and about to enjoy the change in seasons.

China Daily photographed people enjoying the outdoors to share with readers.

A baby swan swimming with her mother in Yuanmingyuan Park, Beijing, attracting tourists on March 8. Li Wenming / for China Daily

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