2024 Qingming Festival Memorial Ceremony for the Yellow Emperor

On the morning of April 4, Jiachen (2024) Qingming Festival Memorial Ceremony for the Yellow Emperor was held at Huangling County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province.

The memorial ceremony was jointly organized by Shaanxi Provincial People's Government, Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, and All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese.

The agenda items of the memorial ceremony are: first, all rise for the drum beats and bell rings; second, sing Ode to the Yellow Emperor; third, present flower basket; fourth, deliver the memorial address; fifth, make three deep bows to the statue of the Yellow Emperor; sixth, memorial music and dance performance; seventh, dragon flying to heaven; eighth, visit the Xuanyuan Hall and the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor; ninth, plant Qiaoshan cypresses.

At 9:50 am, the memorial ceremony officially started. 

The 34 drumbeats symbolize the common aspiration of China’s 34 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan, as well as all overseas Chinese to worship the ancestor of the Chinese nation. The 9 bell rings represent the highest etiquette of traditional rituals of the Chinese nation, expressing the infinite admiration and gratitude of sons and daughters of the Chinese nation to their ancestor, the Yellow Emperor.

After the memorial music and dance performance, a 56-meter-long Chinese dragon hovered and leaped from the center of the altar, soaring to the sky. The dragon traveled through five thousand years of history, gazing at the ever-changing present and flying towards a bright and magnificent future.