April 5th is Qing Ming Day

 It’s a holiday but I’ll be doing work in my Jiangyin apartment: housework and grading, lots of grading.

Qing Ming Day is known in English as Tomb Sweeping Day, a day to honor one’s ancestors by attending to their graves.  Till I knew it was called Qing Ming Day, I had a whale of a time trying to get my students to understand me when I talked of the holiday.  

Not all Chinese will go to tombs on actual Qing Ming Day.  Many will have gone on previous weekends so as to avoid the rush.

April 5th is also my sister’s birthday. I’ll email her my best wishes.