On the occasion of the Qingming Festival, Chinese embassies in Serbia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia held tomb-sweeping ceremonies to pay tribute to Chinese martyrs who lost their lives overseas.
Qingming Festival, or Tombsweeping day, is a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the dead and worship their ancestors. It fell on April 5 this year.
In Serbia, staff members of the Chinese embassy, along with representatives from Chinese-funded enterprises, news media, students studying in the country, and members of the local Chinese community, paid tribute on Sunday to the three martyrs who lost their lives in the 1999 NATO bombing.
They laid wreaths at the martyrs' tomb and observed a moment of silence.
The Chinese embassy in Tanzania held a wreath-laying ceremony on Saturday at the Chinese Experts Cemetery to honor those who sacrificed their lives while constructing the Tanzania-Zambia Railway in the 1970s.
More than 100 people attended the ceremony, including representatives from the Tanzanian government, Chinese-funded institutions, and local Chinese communities.
Dignitaries, including Tanzania's Minister for Home Affairs Patrobas Katambi and Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian, stepped forward to lay wreaths on their graves, bowing in tribute to the fallen.
Speaking at the ceremony, Katambi said Tanzania is willing to work with China to support the revitalization project of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, deepen bilateral relations, and bring benefits to the peoples of both countries.
The ceremony also marked the 50th anniversary of the start of commercial operations of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority, a railway that continues to carry both goods and the enduring story of friendship among China, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Decades ago, China offered assistance without conditions, sending more than 50,000 experts, engineers, and workers to East Africa. Together with Tanzanian and Zambian counterparts, they carved a railway through mountains, valleys, and wilderness, overcoming immense logistical and environmental challenges.
Led by the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, China's medical team, military medical expert group, and representatives of Chinese-funded enterprises paid tribute to the late Mei Gengnian, who led the first Chinese medical team to Ethiopia in 1974 before tragically losing his life in a car accident in 1975.
Chinese embassies overseas hold memorial ceremonies on Qingming Festival
