Tiananmen Square Remembered

Ian Johnson writes:  Every spring, an old friend of mine named Xu Jue makes a trip to the Babao­shan cemetery in the western suburbs of Beijing to lay flowers on the tombs of her dead son and husband. She always plans her visit for April 5, which is the holiday of Pure Brightness, or Qingming. The traditional Chinese calendar has three festivals to honour the dead and Qingming is the most important – so important that in 2008 the government, which for decades had tried to suppress traditional religious practices, declared it a national holiday and gave people a day off to fulfil their obligations.  For full story click here.