The tomb sweeping for this year's Qingming Festival, when Chinese traditionally pay respect to the dead, reached its peak in Beijing on Apr 4.

Tomb sweepers exceeded 400,000 in Beijing's 73 cemeteries on Sunday, of whom 110,000 were concentrated in the Babaoshan Cemetery west of the national capital, said Jiang Xiaogang, spokesman for Beijing Municipal Administration for Burials.

Jiang said there was a sharp increase in the number of tomb sweepers for this year's Qingming Festival, which could be because the annual festival on the lunar calendar fell on a Sunday.

It is estimated that the peak for this year's tomb sweeping would be from around March 27 to April 11 and the total number of tomb sweepers will increase to 1.5 million in Beijing this year from 1.44 million last year.

A temporary headquarters for tomb-sweeping affairs during Qingming Festival, with workers from 17 government departments, has been established to prevent accidents caused by the sudden increased flow of people.

Large number of compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan also return to the Chinese mainland to pay respect to the ancestors or the dead during the Qingming Festival.

Luohu Checkpoint in Shenzhen City, a boomtown facing Hong Kong in south China's Guangdong Province, for instance, handled 280,000arrivals, a record high, on Saturday, said sources from Shenzhen Exit and Entry Inspection Station.

It is estimated that tomb sweepers will amount to 1 million in Shenzhen this year, of which, compatriots from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao will make up 20 percent. 

(Xinhua News  Agency  April 5, 2004)