On this traditional Chinese festival for visiting family graves,
nearly 100,000 Chinese from all over the world converged before the
mausoleum of their common ancestor,
Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor).
Among them were high-ranking officials, a Tibetan Living Buddha,
celebrities from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR),
delegations from the Macao SAR and Taiwan Province, and many
overseas Chinese.
The ceremony began with a 34-gun salute, representing China's 34
provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and special
administrative regions.
The crowd, ranging from the elderly to toddlers, all bowed to the
image of their ancestor and contributed flowers and sacrificial
donations.
A
Chinese-Filipino, Yang Shiliang, said that overseas Chinese are
fascinated by China's opening up and growth, and are eager to seek
their roots. Most of the 19 members of the Philippine delegation
had come to China for the first time, specially to visit the
Huangdi Mausoleum.
Another Chinese-Filipino, Wu Jiansheng, said all people with
Chinese origin are connected with the same ancestors.
Wu
cited a composition written by a Philippine middle school student,
whose mother was Taiwanese: "When we saw Beijing won the bidding
for the 2008 Olympics and He Zhenliang, the Chinese member on the
International Olympic Committee's executive board hugging his
colleague from Taipei, all my family members were moved to
tears."
Ma
Ronghua, from Taipei, capital of Taiwan Province, added, "We hope
the motherland will be reunited soon, for we are all offspring of
the same ancestors, Huangdi and Yandi (another legendary emperor of
the Chinese nation)."
Li
Tieying, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of
China Central Committee, and Peng Peiyun, vice-chairman of the
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, are among
those attending the ceremony.
After the ceremony, civil activities will be held spontaneously by
villagers and other delegations from different areas in China,
which will usually last for about four days.
Huangdi is regarded as the founder of the Chinese nation and
culture. The sacrificial ceremonies started in 442 BC. The largest
ceremony was held by Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, with 180,000
people present.
During the Chinese people's war of resistance against Japanese
aggression, the Communist Party of China and Kuomintang
(Nationalist Party) jointly held ceremonies in memory of their
common ancestor and prayed for peace.
From 1963 to 1978, the memorial ceremonies were called off, and
were resumed in 1979. In 1993, Chinese President Jiang Zemin wrote
an inscription for the Huangdi Mausoleum.
To
meet the growing demand of Chinese both at home and abroad, the
Chinese government started a restoration project in 1992, and in
the same year set up a foundation to raise money for this
project.
So
far, donations from both at home and abroad have topped 70 million
yuan (about US$8.43 million) and the total the government has spent
on the restoration in recent years has reached 100 million
yuan.
A
Chinese-Malaysian, Li Musheng, said, "I've visited the mausoleum 12
times, and today I saw the grandest ceremony ever, which can better
show off China's improved national strength and provide a center
for Chinese across the world to gather around."
(Xinhua News
Agency April 5, 2002)