An Initiative to Promote Civilized Tomb-Sweeping Activities During Qingming Festival

　　Qingming Festival is a traditional holiday during which people commemorate their ancestors and mourn the deceased. According to the "Notice on Issuing the Work Plan for Ensuring Qingming Tomb-Sweeping Services in Nanchang City 2023" (Hongbin Gai Zu Zi [2023] No. 1), civil servants in Party and government organs throughout the city—especially Party members and cadres—should fully play a leading role by setting an example and taking the initiative in carrying out civilized tomb-sweeping activities during Qingming Festival. The following appeal is hereby made:

Party members take the lead.

Be a role model for civilized grave sweeping.

　　Party members and cadres in government agencies across the city must earnestly put into practice the requirements for model government agencies, set a good example themselves, promote positive social customs, and take the lead in conducting civilized mourning practices. They should encourage family-based remembrance activities, such as writing wishes on cards or tying yellow ribbons, to honor the deceased and express their grief. At the same time, they should reject harmful mourning practices like setting off firecrackers, burning joss paper, and using non-biodegradable funeral offerings. By doing so, they can ensure safe, low-carbon, and civilized mourning rituals. In promoting civilized mourning, advancing funeral reform, strengthening ecological protection, and fostering social civilization, they should serve as role models and set a shining example.

Take the lead in promotion

Be a promoter of civilized grave sweeping.

　　Party members and cadres in government agencies across the city should actively promote and guide their relatives and those around them to shift from traditional to civilized grave-sweeping practices—moving away from focusing solely on physical, material-based rituals toward emphasizing spiritual inheritance. They should vigorously encourage alternative methods such as flower offerings and online grave-sweeping. All units should take “Changing Customs, Promoting Civilized Grave-Sweeping, Ensuring a Peaceful Qingming Festival” as their theme and make extensive use of newspapers, television, the internet, WeChat, special columns, and display boards to highlight the negative impacts of traditional grave-sweeping practices—including environmental pollution, safety hazards, and wasteful spending—resulting from activities like setting off firecrackers, burning paper money and joss paper, and using non-compliant funeral supplies. At the same time, they should vigorously promote green and civilized mourning practices, creating a strong atmosphere of civilized grave-sweeping.

Promote a new ethos.

Be a leader in practicing civilized grave sweeping.

　　Party members and cadres in government agencies across the city should, in conjunction with their respective job responsibilities and paired community assistance efforts, actively promote to citizens information about civilized tomb-sweeping practices. They should guide the public to shift their approach to tomb-sweeping from focusing on formalities to placing greater emphasis on heartfelt remembrance, thereby fostering new modern concepts and trends in funeral practices—such as respecting life, honoring elders and showing filial piety, and cherishing the memory of ancestors. We must vigorously carry forward the spirit of the revolution, strengthen our reverence for revolutionary martyrs, express our gratitude toward them, and commit ourselves to passing on their legacy. We should also organize online activities to commemorate heroic martyrs during the Qingming Festival and advance patriotic education in the new era.

Working Committee of Directly Affiliated Organs of the CPC Nanchang Municipal Committee

March 28, 2023