The Chung Yeung Festival: Autumn Grave-Sweeping and Ancestor Veneration in the Wuyi Diaspora
On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, China marks Chung Yeung — the Double Ninth Festival (重阳节, Chóngyáng Jié) — the autumn grave-sweeping festival. In 2026, the day falls on Sunday, October 18. It is the last of the traditional…
festivals
Mid-Autumn Festival 2026: The Reunion Festival of the Separated
Of all the festivals on the Chinese calendar, the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节, Zhōngqiū Jié) is the one built around a single shape. The full moon (满月, mǎnyuè) is round. The mooncake (月饼, yuèbǐng) is round. The table a family gathers around is round — and in…
Ghost Month 2026: A Guide to Zhongyuan for Diaspora Families
The Gates Open: A Month When the Living Remember
In Chinese cosmology, the seventh month of the lunar calendar belongs to the dead. The gates of the underworld open on the first day, and for the next month the ancestors return to the homes they…
Qixi Festival: How the Wuyi Diaspora Kept Love Alive Across the Ocean
The Seventh Night: When the Separated Are Allowed to Meet
The seventh night of the seventh lunar month is the one night a year when, in the oldest love myth of the Chinese calendar, two lovers separated by the Milky Way are allowed…
Zhongyuan Festival: How the Wuyi Diaspora Honors the Dead
The Month of the Dead — and the People Who Never Stopped Feeding Them
In the Chinese calendar, the seventh lunar month belongs to the dead. This year the gates of the underworld open on August 13 and close on September 10 — twenty-nine days in…
rnrnThe dragon boat cuts across False Creek like a blade through memory.rnrnDrum — a single stroke, then the answering crash of twenty paddles striking water in unison. The dragon head surges forward, painted eyes glaring, carved scales glistening in Vancouver's June light. On the shore, a spectator watches. She has lived in this city her…