Qingming 清明 — Clear and Bright

The only solar term that is also a major festival — the day of tomb sweeping. Qingming falls around 5 April. It is simultaneously a solar term and one of the four major traditional festivals, which makes it the single most observed date in the traditional calendar after the new year.

It is a solar term — a date fixed by the sun's position, not by the moon. The only solar term that is also a major festival — the day of tomb sweeping. Qingming is the clearest demonstration that the Chinese calendar is two calendars at once: the festival follows the sun, the new year follows the moon, and this one belongs to both.

The practice associated with it is visiting and cleaning family graves. Its dual status — astronomical term and festival — is unusual and is the reason the date is stable in the solar calendar while the other festivals move. It is grouped under Wood (木) in the five-element system.