Whether you like it or not, death is a part of life. Understanding death can help us cherish（珍爱）our time and live our best lives. Zhongyuan Festival and Qingming Festival in China celebrate this topic.
In April, there is a special day when people remember their ancestors. It is Tomb Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival. This year, it fell on April 5th. While the term Qingming was first recorded in the Western Han Dynasty, it was until the Tang Dynasty that it became a national holiday to honor the dead. It was also combined with other festivals. One of them is called hanshi, meaning “cold meal”, which falls two days before Tomb Sweeping Day. For three days, ancient people would not use fire and eat only cold meals. To celebrate the festival, families first sweep dust off the tombs and then put flowers, food and wine to the tombs of their ancestors.
Zhongyuan Festival is another festival in China to remember the dead, which falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month and on Aug 30th this year. Since ancient times, the Chinese have believed that the gates of hell open on that day and so people hold all kinds of activities to honor the ghosts. Therefore, the festival is also called the Ghost Festival. Among the different folk customs of the Zhongyuan Festival, the floating（漂浮的）water lanterns is the most important. On the night of the festival, lanterns are set into rivers or lakes. People believe this can help dead people find their way home.
【小题1】Qingming Festival is always on April 5th.【小题2】Qingming Festival didn’t become a national holiday in the Western Han Dynasty.
【小题3】Zhongyuan Festival is also called the Ghost Festival.
【小题4】People believe the floating water lanterns can help the dead return home.
【小题5】The passage comes from a sports magazine.
