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Tainan, Taiwan. 2026.

The Awakening of Psyche (1904), (detail), by Guillaume Seignac (French, 1870–1924), oil on canvas, 183 × 91.5 cm, Chimei Museum, Tainan

An ode to the whimsical, sunny alleyways of Tainan 💛 One of my earliest childhood memories is playing with mimosa plants on a small street on the way to piano class 🌱

Prints available here

#taiwan #tainan #visual development #illustration #original

I've never actually gone grave sweeping for Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day) before. My family always visited Taiwan during the colder months, and so we were never in Taiwan in April. Last year (2025), I actually was in Taiwan during April, but I didn't get to go then either. We had April 3-6 off (Children's Day for the 3rd, Tomb Sweeping Day for the 4th), but midterms were literally right after, so I went to Taipei Zoo with my roommates and spent the rest of the time studying rather than make the trip. Everyone called it 溫書假 (wen1shu1jia4; break for reviewing) because of the timing. What's funny is that we had another wenshujia for finals: we had a long weekend (May 30-June 1) off due to Dragon Boat Festival and finals were June 2-6.

I did go pay my respects when I got the chance to, though. In Taiwan, the government encouraged people to go for cremation rather than burial due to lack of space and to avoid having to climb mountains and clear weeds and bushes. So while older generations of my ancestors were buried in graves, my great-grandparents generation and anyone after have been placed in columbariums (ling2gu3ta3; 靈骨塔), which are buildings specifically for holding ashes. The day of Qingming Festival, Taipei City runs free "Grave Sweeping Busses" (掃墓公車; sao3mu4gong1che1) to the large public cemeteries so that it's more convenient for people to visit by metro/bus.

Both sides of my family are from Tainan, so that's where most of them are buried/kept. My mother's side has an ancestral hall they built for the ashes, and my father's side has a grave plot, but both are more rural, and no one really thought there was a point in taking me, especially when they'd only just gone, so I didn't go to either.

My paternal great-grandparents and a few of their children's ashes were moved to be closer to my grandparents, so when I was in Tainan, I visited them in the columbarium in Guanmiao District and just did the basic steps: light incense, pay respects to the Tudi Gong (土地公; local deity that protects the area), then find their nameplates and pay our respects. (While women don't change their surnames, my great-grandmother was listed with both surnames (i.e. her name was Lin Yan, she married into the Feng family, so she was listed as Feng Lin Yan)). Since my grandparents live near, they go pretty often, so we didn't have any extra offerings or anything.

The ashes of my maternal grandfather, his parents, and a few relatives of his generation were placed in Chin Pao San Cemetery in New Taipei City instead of in the ancestral hall. Apparently, this was because the feng shui there is much better than anywhere in Tainan, and they got a good deal (a relative works there). My grandma and aunt happened to be in Taiwan visiting in May, so when they came north to Taipei, I joined them in visiting the columbarium. Since they were also making up for Qingming Festival, we had some offerings to bring.

Customarily, an odd number of fruits is offered to deities, while an even number of fruits is offered to ancestors.

This is one of the halls, where my grandfather's and great-grandparents' spirit tablets as well as a few of the Bodhisattva statues were.

Here, it tells you in what order to pay your respects: Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, then Amitabha Buddha/Guanyin/Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, then to your relatives' spirit tablets. (After which, they tell you to place your used incense in the incense burner outside).

We also bought some paper money to burn for them from the shop. Burning paper money allows deceased family members to receive it in the afterlife, which they can then use to buy what they want, ensuring they are comfortable.

The red packages here are for ancestors, while the white ones are for the deities, both filled with paper money (I've blocked out our names). We got two of the white ones and also two of the red ones, one for my grandfather, and one for my great-grandparents. The signage just demonstrated what to fill out for each package (the deceased's name, spirit plate location/number, who the offering is from).

There were also other things you could buy at the shop to burn for your ancestors.

The sink (淨果台; jing4guo3tai2) is for washing the fruit you're offering, and next to it is the furnace for burning paper money (金爐; jin1lu2).

While we were there, there were other people who had brought their own paper money and were folding each bill to throw.

We then lit our incense and went up to the floor where my grandfather and other relatives' ashes were. My aunt, who visits more often, asked the staff to regularly switch out the flowers on his nameplate, so there were fresh orchids (his favourite flower) when we went. The plates have their names on them, but if a plate was purchased for a person that is still living, it displays 壽 (shou4; longevity) instead.

#blu speaks #taiwan #taipei #tainan #qingming festival #mine