Qingming Festival, or the Tomb-Sweeping Day, is held at the beginning of April when spring arrives. It is an important traditional festival for Chinese to pay tribute to their ancestors. The festival falls on April 5th this year.

It is also the first day of Clear and Bright, the fifth of the 24 solar terms, on which the temperatures begin to rise nationwide and rainfall increases.

The mild weather and the tradition custom make Qingming Festival holiday a perfect time to go out and enjoy nature and remember the dead.

Northwest China's Shaanxi province boasts one of the birthplaces for Chinese civilizations and Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor), widely regarded as the initiator of Chinese civilization and one of the common ancestors for all Chinese, is also buried in the province's Huangling county, Yan'an city. 

So which is the best place in Shaanxi to go during the festival? The following historic and cultural sites in the province definitely deserve your visit.

Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor

Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor, widely regarded as the initiator of Chinese civilization and one of the common ancestors for all Chinese, is located on Qiaoshan Mountain in Shaanxi's Huangling county. Since 442 BC at least, it has become an important location where generations of emperors and famous people have made offerings to the Yellow Emperor.

In present-day, an annual grand ceremony is held to honor him on the occasion of Qingming Festival.