For Malaysian Chinese Goh Ee Xuan, Qingming Festival has always pulsed with ancestral echoes and meant honoring ancestors through time-honored rituals like burning incense and offering symbolic paper gifts.

Even while living in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin this year, she maintained the tradition through a heartfelt video call with relatives back home.

"Growing up in a Malaysian Chinese household, Qingming rituals like tomb-sweeping were part of my childhood fabric," Goh explained. "My parents taught me to remember my roots."

With a 2,500-year history, Qingming Festival, or the Festival of Pure Brightness, observed in early April, uniquely combines ancestral worship with the celebration of spring. Falling on the 15th day after the spring equinox, this ritual-rich observance reflects China's enduring values of ancestral veneration and inspires deep introspection about what gives life meaning.

Qingming rituals persist with remarkable vitality in most Chinese communities across Southeast Asia, observed folk culture expert Ma Zhiyao, adding that this demonstrates the custom's enduring cultural resonance.

Wang Yi, associated professor of cultural studies at Tianjin University, noted that as China's cultural influence expands, traditional Chinese festivals like Qingming are gaining increasing global recognition.

"Their cultural depth speaks to universal human values - making them not just Chinese traditions, but shared touchstones of remembrance and renewal," she said.

Qingming's reflections on mortality, kinship and nature speak to all humanity, according to Wang. "As foreigners learn about and even participate in its rituals, they will see how deeply our cultures connect, and how much we can learn from each other."

From Mexico's Day of the Dead, brought to life by the 2017 Academy Award-winning animated film Coco, to the Obon Festival in Japan, cultures worldwide have their own takes on ancestral worship. Despite different traditions, all share a deep respect for life and the departed.

Cultural symbolism transcends borders. Both ancient Egyptians and Chinese traditions associate plants with rebirth. Egyptians adorned tombs with symbolic palms and lotuses, while Qingming's willow branches, prized for their early spring vitality, represent nature's enduring cycle of renewal.

Ahmed Mohamed Saleh, an Egyptian student in Tianjin, shared his cultural perspective.

"In Egypt, we prepare ritual offerings and special foods for tomb visits, and plant symbolic vegetation by the graveside to represent life's cyclical nature," he said. "Both cultures believe honoring the past helps us live better futures, rather than dwell in perpetual sorrow."

Qingming Festival embodies a poignant duality of emotions, as solemn remembrance is intertwined with spring's rejuvenating joy. This is beautifully captured in classical poetry.

Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu's iconic "Qingming" paints the sorrow: A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day; the mourner's heart is going to break on his way.

Yet another poem reveals the season's brighter essence: When pear blossoms ride the warm eastern winds, half the city empties as the hunt for spring begins.

International students in China follow Qingming traditions in their own ways. Shin Gisong from the Republic of Korea hiked through spring landscapes, while Comorian student Mroivili Faouzia visited cultural sites.

"Even though our customs might be different, the idea of honoring those who came before us is the same," Faouzia said.

"I believe that a festival to remember our ancestors can touch people everywhere. It reminds us that family, history and respect for our roots are values shared by many cultures around the world," she added. 

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