April 4 was the Qingming Festival, the traditional day on which
the Chinese people pay their respects to their ancestors.
At the mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor in Huangling County, 165
kilometers from Xi'an,
Shaanxi
Province, the local government sponsored a spectacular
traditional-style ritual.
Shaanxi Governor Jia
Zhibang said that realizing the reunification of the motherland
is the best way to cherish the Yellow Emperor's memory.
For the first time, China Central
Television, Shanghai
Oriental Television, Hong
Kong Phoenix Television and Shaanxi Television broadcast this
year's event live to an international audience.
The Yellow Emperor, a great tribal chief who lived in the 27th
century BC, is honored as the founder of Chinese civilization. The
invention of carts, boats, the bow and arrow and Chinese medicine
are attributed to him. He is said to have created pictographic
writing and originated sericulture.
Although many legends grew up around the man, the great advances
that were made during his time made
China one of the world's four great ancient civilizations.
To better protect the mausoleum, a fund was established in
Beijing in 1992 to collect money from all over the world for a
mausoleum renovation project.
More than 130 million yuan (US$15.7 million) was collected.
Local governments, companies and individuals donated about 80
million yuan (US$9.6 million).
The second phase of the renovation, costing some 250 million
yuan (US$30 million) has been under way since December 2001. On
Saturday, 9.3 million yuan (US$1.1 million) was donated by 30 local
governments, companies and individuals said Sun Tianyi, the fund's
director.
(China Daily April 5, 2004)
