Day 9 - Belated 清明

Early this afternoon, we headed up the hillside to where the ancestral gravesite on my maternal grandfather's side is. There we engaged in the regular 清明 (Qing Ming) activities such as sweeping/clearing the area of overgrowth, burning incense & paper money, set fireworks (though that was a new one to me), etc.

Yes, I'm aware that the offical date for 清明 was on the previous Friday, but I figured the original plans were for us to be in Jiande by then and it's only due to the passports problem that everything was delayed...

The gravesite area is next to another river (forgot the name) and the scenery is pretty nice too. I played camerawoman once again and took various videos/photos that I will eventually put up.

On the way back, we stopped at a 亭子 next to the river. It was apparently built in honor of an ancestor for some politically related reason or other around the time of the cultural revolution. We also stopped at a small town on the way, which used to belong to the Zhu family prior to the cultural revolution that took it away from all the dastardly landlords. Not much of the past remains in the town however, since apparently much of it was rebuilt following a flood some time after the transfer of property to the government.

This evening, even more distant relatives joined us for a huge family dinner. I counted 19 seats, not including the two kids that were with us. The food was pretty good, though a lot of it a little too spicy for my (and my mom/aunt/grandfather's) tastes. Actually, I notice that food in general all over China, especially the more expensive/upper class kind, seem to have become more spicy... Is spiciness some kind of symbol of wealth that I'm not understanding?? o_O

(Also, I think I might be gaining weight from my stay in China... =_=)