WISHING YOU AN ENJOYABLE CHING MING

Tomorrow is the Ching Ming festival in Hong Kong and China. It's a public holiday so offices and factories will be closed (any email you send to Hong Kong today will probably not be answered until Thursday morning).

From one of my colleagues in Hong Kong comes this explanation of the festival:

Ching Ming (or Qingming), meaning "clear and bright", is the day for mourning the dead, a day for Chinese families to visit our ancestors' graves. It falls in early April every year and corresponds with the onset of warmer weather, the start of Spring, and of family outings. This is a one-day holiday in Hong Kong for the descendants to "sweep the graves" of their ancestors. It is not a solemn occasion, but rather, a time for happy communion with family members to show respect for our ancestors.