8 Must-know Qingming Festival Words in Chinese

The Qingming Festival ( 清明节  — qīng míng jié) is an over 2,500-year-old holiday where families pay respect to their deceased ancestors.

It involves tomb sweeping, spring outings and kite flying. The families also bring the person’s favorite wine and food as sacrifices. Other sacrifices include paper money that would be burned since the Chinese believe it’s needed on the other side.

Here are eight words you need to celebrate Qingming Festival.

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1. 风筝 (fēng zhēng) — Kite

在你心目中西安最适合放风筝的地方是哪儿呢？

(zài nǐ xīn mù zhōng xī’ ān zuì shì hé fàng fēng zhēng dì dì fāng shì nǎ’ er ne?)

Where do you think is the most suitable place to fly kites in Xi’an?

2. 祭品 (jì pǐn) — Sacrifices; Offerings

每到清明节前，路口都有很多烧纸、烧祭品的市民。

(měi dào qīng míng jié qián, lù kǒu dōu yǒu hěn duō shāo zhǐ, shāo jì pǐn de shì mín.)

Before every Qingming Festival, there are a lot of people on the roads burning paper and offerings.

3. 祭祀 (jì sì) — To Offer Sacrifices to Ancestors

清明节快到了，如果刚好那时人在外地，无法回杭州来祭祀，怎么办？

(qīng míng jié kuài dào le, rú guǒ gāng hǎo nà shí rén zài wài dì, wú fǎ huí háng zhōu lái jì sì, zěn me bàn?)

It’s almost Qingming Festival. What do you do if at that time you happen to be out of town and have no way to offer sacrifices to your ancestors?

4. 踏青 (tà qīng) — Outing

清明假期主要以国内及短途出境游为主，踏青是清明节出行的首选主题。

(qīng míng jià qī zhǔ yào yǐ guó nèi jí duǎn tú chū jìng yóu wéi zhǔ, tà qīng shì qīng míng jié chū xíng de shǒu xuǎn zhǔ tí.)

The Qingming Festival for those within mainland China is a short holiday, where the main part of it is going on an outing.)

5. 菊花 (jú huā) — Chrysanthemum

虽然没值多少钱，但在干燥的天气下，冲一杯菊花蜜糖，喝起来人都醒神好多。

(suī rán méi zhí duō shǎo qián, dàn zài gān zào de tiān qì xià, chōng yī bēi jú huā mì táng, hē qǐ lái rén dōu xǐng shén hǎo duō.)

Even though it’s not worth a lot of money, making a cup of chrysanthemum tea with honey to drink during dry weather really lifts people’s spirits up.

6. 冷食  (lěng shí) — Cold Food; Cold Dishes

清明之日，不动烟火，只吃冷食。

(qīng míng zhī rì, bù dòng yān huǒ, zhǐ chī lěng shí.)

On Qingming day, you can’t light fireworks and can only eat cold dishes.

7. 插柳 (chā liǔ) — Plant Willow Trees

我国古代在清明时节就有插柳植树的传统。

(wǒ guó gǔ dài zài qīng míng shí jié jiù yǒu chā liǔ zhí shù de chuán tǒng.)

During ancient times in my country for Qingming Festival, a tradition was to plant willow trees.

8. 扫墓 (sǎo mù) — Sweep Tombs; Tomb Sweeping

昨天，趁着天气不错，不少市民赶着去郊外扫墓。

(zuó tiān, chèn zhe tiān qì bù cuò, bù shǎo shì mín gǎn zhe qù jiāo wài sǎo mù.)

Taking advantage of the weather yesterday, many people rushed to the outskirts of the city to sweep tombs.

 

With these eight words, you’ll be able to converse about Qingming Festival with native speakers more easily.

And if you like this list, you might also like this poem video on Tomb Sweeping Day, which you can find on FluentU.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)