International Law

Quiet Holiday Weekend

By Stan

Not much going on this weekend, blog or otherwise. At least the Beijing deep freeze is over, and the weather has turned more seasonable. With no heat over the past few weeks, things have been uncomfortable at home to say the least. This is no exaggeration — a couple of days last week saw me blogging at my desk at night equipped with a hoodie (in the “hood up” position) and gloves.

With little else to say, here’s an interesting bit from a UPI article on the current holiday, Qingming/Tomb Sweeping Day:

The people of China marked Tomb Sweeping Day Saturday both in the traditional way and with a modern twist that employed the Internet. China’s annual memorial festival historically is commemorated with visits to family tombs where candles are lit, paper money burned, prayers offered, and flowers and food left behind. This year, many more people expressed their thoughts about deceased family members on the World Wide Web.

More than 5,200 people presented virtual flowers, alcohol and ignited candles at a Web site dedicated to those who fought and died during a war in Shandong province in 1948. The Web site www.wenming.cn/wmdjr/qm.htm received more than 3 million visitors as of Saturday with 220,000 leaving comments.

Eh, nothing is sacred any more.

© Stan for China Hearsay, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us

Full post as published by China Hearsay on April 05, 2009 (boomark / email).