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Jane Cai

Most mainland Chinese are expected to stay put during the upcoming Ching Ming Festival, as China grapples with its largest outbreak of Covid-19 since the pandemic began more than two years ago.
The festival, which falls on Tuesday this year, is traditionally a time to leave the house to welcome spring and sweep the tombs of ancestors.
The ruling Communist Party made it an official holiday in 2007 and it is usually linked to a weekend to form a three-day holiday to boost spending.
However, the outlook for consumption this time is gloomy.
Since March, more than 100,000 people across all 31 provinces have tested positive for the coronavirus in the latest wave of Covid-19, most of them with the rapidly spreading Omicron variant.
Tens of millions of people are confined to their homes or quarantine facilities as the country maintains a zero-tolerance approach to the pandemic. Authorities have advised against travel to other provinces or to “high or medium-risk” zones, of which there were 499 as of Friday.
‘Send e-cards to the dead’: China’s tomb-sweeping to go online amid Covid surge
Many people have simply cancelled plans to visit tombs of their loved ones or travel outside their city, fearing they would be caught up in China’s rigid pandemic controls.
“After an hour-long discussion with my father on the phone, I dropped the plan to drive to Baoding to visit the tomb of my grandpa,” Liu Dafeng, 34, a computer engineer in Beijing, said.
Neither Beijing nor Baoding, in the northern province of Hebei, is a hotspot of the latest outbreak. Yet both governments have recommended people avoid “unnecessary trips” and are requiring negative Covid-19 test results for entry.
“I was willing to take the trouble, as tomb sweeping is a family tradition. I went back on Ching Ming last year and the previous year amid the pandemic, and it was all right,” Liu said.
However, his father, a school principal, thought there would be more uncertainties this year, as Beijing’s control measures are expected to be stricter ahead of the twice-a-decade Communist Party congress in autumn when a leadership reshuffle will be unveiled.
Liu was persuaded. “More and more friends of mine are being put under home quarantine these days, because of remote links to close contacts of some confirmed cases. If anything goes wrong, I may easily be confined too,” he said with a sigh.


Zhou Fengsui, 66, on her 21st day of home quarantine in Shanghai as of Friday, said she couldn’t make any plans for the festival.
“It used to be a family reunion day, when my daughter, son-in-law and grandson would come with me to sweep the tomb of my late husband,” Zhou said.
“Now both families are under quarantine. Life is not easy when vegetables are in tight supply. No one is sure whether the lockdown will be extended,” she said.
Shanghai has reported more than 30,000 infections since March 1, registering more cases in the month than in the past two years of the pandemic.
It had adopted a district-to-district rolling lockdown before launching a two-stage lockdown and mass testing on Monday.
The lockdown of the Puxi area, where Zhou lives, is scheduled to lift on Tuesday, the day of the festival.
The municipal government issued a notice last month to suspend tomb sweeping until after Ching Ming.
A major cemetery in suburban Shanghai, Haiwanyuan, is offering tomb-cleaning services for relatives.
The cemetery charges a fee ranging from 35 yuan (US$5.50) to over 1,000 yuan (US$157), depending on the number of offerings and complexity of the ritual, according to its official WeChat account. Families can watch the activities via a live stream or get photographs sent to them.
Zhou said she was not impressed. “I will probably just pour a glass of wine and play Beethoven’s Fate, my husband’s favourite symphony, on Ching Ming. It will be a private moment to remember him,” she said.


In Shenzhen, Zhang Wen, a 36-year-old interior designer, is putting the city’s weeklong lockdown behind him by going on a camping trip with his family.
He has booked a camping site in a mountainous area in Guangzhou, about 130km (80 miles) from Shenzhen, hoping to have a good time with his wife and six-year-old daughter.
“I’d like to take a break after the tedious quarantine period,” Zhang said. “I was tempted to do a big trip to embrace spring. Air tickets are so cheap! But I don’t dare as the pandemic is still unchecked in many places.”
Flight prices are cratering. Airlines are offering discounts as deep as 90 per cent on flights to and from popular destinations such as Beijing and Guangzhou throughout April, reflecting a sharp drop in bookings.
“I usually share vacation photos with friends on WeChat, but this time I won’t. So many people are suffering from lockdowns or running short on food, it may be inappropriate to show how happy I am,” Zhang said. “My sympathies are with them.”


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As Omicron lurks, China plans to stay home for the Ching Ming holiday

The Ching Ming Festival is a time to tend tombs and remember the dead. Photo: EPA-EFE

China’s tourism industry braces for Ching Ming Festival with lockdowns and travel restrictions

A store along Shanghai’s normally bustling Nanjing Road, outside of coronavirus lockdown areas, operates with a bare-bones staff as most people stay home. Photo: Bloomberg

A man paints blooming plum blossoms at a park in Beijing on Monday. The cost of flying to the capital has plunged on the mainland as lockdowns affect most Chinese provinces. Photo: AP

A quarantined man uses rope to descend a bag to a woman on a Shanghai street on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Hospitals have closed wards and cut services as medical staff have fallen ill or been redeployed to quarantine hospitals. Photo: EPA-EFE

Empty streets in the city’s Yangpu district on Friday. Photo: AFP

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The festival is traditionally a time to remember lives lost and to usher in spring
But millions are in lockdown and authorities are advising against unnecessary travel



Millions are in lockdown and authorities are advising against unnecessary travel.


Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Coronavirus China

As Omicron lurks, China plans to stay home for the Ching Ming holiday

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} The festival is traditionally a time to remember lives lost and to usher in spring But millions are in lockdown and authorities are advising against unnecessary travel

The festival is traditionally a time to remember lives lost and to usher in spring

But millions are in lockdown and authorities are advising against unnecessary travel