The Chinese public honored the nation's war veterans and revolutionary martyrs on Sunday, as the country celebrated the Tomb Sweeping Day, locally known as Qingming Festival.
The website developed for the online participation and engagement of Chinese netizens garnered almost 200 million hits, with millions of Chinese people sending virtual virtual wreaths and praising the martyrs in the comments section.
Sina Weibo, China's most popular social media site, was populated with the trending topic "Commemorating the Martyrs," engaging more than 657,000 users. In the physical and non-virtual sense, war museums and cemeteries were flocked by those paying tribute to their heroes as memorial events were held across China.
In Tenchong County in Yunan Province, more than 500 people, war veterans among them, attended the ceremony conducted in a martyr's ceremony, honoring the 9,000 soldiers who died fighting the Japanese troops on World War II.
Another memorial park, this time in Hebei's northern province, saw the attendance of students, medical professionals and ex-soldiers paying tribure to Canadian doctor Norman Bethune and Indian doctor Dwarkanath Kotnis, both non-citizens of China but nevertheless sacrificed their lives and careers helping the Chinese people in their struggles. The said park received an estimated number of 240,000 visitors.
The commemoration of the martyrs is an important theme for China's Tomb Sweeping Day, especially this year, for it marks the 70th anniversary celebration of the Allied Forces' fight against fascism.
Last week, a park in China's Guilin City honored the U.S. foces' "Flying Tigers," a mighty band of brigade who helped the Chinese people defeat the Japanese army.<
The Qingming Festival, otherwise known as Tomb Sweeping Day, is an annual celebration in China honoring the Chinese people's dearly departed.