Spring outings boom during Qingming holiday in China

During the Qingming Festival, people across China are heading outdoors to enjoy the spring weather, explore scenic spots, and participate in various cultural and outdoor activities.

The Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, which falls on April 5 this year, is a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the diseased and worship their ancestors. The holiday coincides with the peak of spring, inspiring many to step outside and embrace the season's freshness and vitality.

At Jinsha Lake in Funing County, Yancheng City, east China's Jiangsu Province, more than 300 kite enthusiasts gathered to launch colorful kites into the sky. The blue sky soon transformed into a vibrant sea of kites, drawing both local residents and tourists to pause and watch.

The event also featured an intangible cultural heritage exhibition, a parent-child kite design area, and specialty markets, allowing visitors to enjoy local delicacies and shop for unique items while taking in the scenery.

"The environment at Jinsha Lake is excellent. Here, we can not only admire top-quality kites from across the country, but also enjoy spring outings," said a tourist Xiang Limei.

During the Qingming holiday, visitors flocked to the Mianyang Base of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Mianyang City, southwest China's Sichuan Province. Parents brought their children to watch pandas climb trees and play up close, with the animals' adorable antics winning widespread attention.

At the same time, it is the migratory bird season, with tens of thousands of seagulls gathering in the coastal wetlands of Beidaihe District in Qinhuangdao City, north China's Hebei Province. Visitors strolled along the shoreline, fed the birds, and took photos, enjoying close interaction with the wildlife.

"The sight of thousands of birds flying together is truly breathtaking. We came here to relax, enjoy the scenery, and take some photos. The views are beautiful," said another tourist Li Yingxue.

In Nanling County, Wuhu City, east China's Anhui Province, students guided by their teachers walked along trails in the vast bamboo forest, carefully learning to identify various native bamboo species.

Meanwhile, at a rural complex in Wuhu, children dug soil, planted rice seedlings, and watered crops, experiencing the rhythms of nature firsthand and gaining a sense of accomplishment through hands-on labor.

Spring outings boom during Qingming holiday in China

The first emergency relief supplies provided by the Chinese government to assist Venezuela following recent devastating earthquakes arrived Monday at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, near the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

The initial shipment, weighing over 80 tons, included 20 generators, eight water purification vehicles, 200 disinfection units, 200 sets of solar lighting equipment, more than 1,700 tents, and over 6,700 blankets.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil and Chinese Ambassador to Venezuela Lan Hu received the supplies at the airport.

Gil thanked the Chinese government and its leaders on behalf of the Venezuelan people, saying China had maintained close communication with the Venezuelan government since the earthquakes struck.

The supplies are of great significance to people who lost their homes in the disaster, Gil said, adding that they demonstrate the enduring all-weather strategic partnership between the two countries.

Gil said the Chinese community and Chinese-funded enterprises in Venezuela had actively extended a helping hand since the disaster struck, joining rescue efforts and helping displaced residents from the very beginning.

Many of those scenes were deeply moving, he said, adding that the Venezuelan people had seen the support and that the two peoples, living on the same land, had developed a deep friendship.

On the night of June 24, Venezuela was hit by two powerful quakes above magnitude 7 which struck within a minute. The quakes, the strongest in the country in more than a century, have left 3,342 people and 16,740 injured so far.

First Chinese relief supplies arrive in quake-ravaged Venezuela