Tomb-sweepers cause severe congestion

Shanghai’s 54 cemeteries and columbariums had 2.19 million tomb-sweepers on Friday’s Qingming Festival. Authorities reported severe congestion on roads and expressways.

The number of visitors was down 6.9 percent on last year, but there were 298,000 more vehicles on the streets, a rise of 1.5 percent, Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau said.

Qingming Festival is the traditional time for Chinese people to pay respects to their ancestors.

Binhaiguyuan Cemetery in Fengxian District and Xianhe Cemetery in Minhang District had the largest number of tomb-sweepers, according to the bureau.

Adding to the pressure on the city’s traffic system was the good weather which led to more people going on spring outings, the bureau said. 

By 6am, three parking lots at Fushouyuan Cemetery in Qingpu District were full, and 60 percent of bus spaces were taken up.

The cemetery recorded a total of more than 13,000 vehicles and over 75,000 tomb-sweepers on the day.

Songhe Mausoleum had around 130,000 sweepers and nearly 17,000 vehicles. Tomb-sweepers had been arriving there as early as 4:30am.

An hour after that, almost all the 1,400 parking spaces at the cemetery were full and vehicles had to be guided to nearby parking lots at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Long queues formed outside toilets and flower sales venues at the cemetery. All the wheelchairs were rented out.

"The number of visitors exceeded our expectation and although we had already prepared more wheelchairs than last year, they were still short of supply because there were too many people coming," said cemetery worker Liu Weiqing. "We also had an extra 500 security guards and volunteers.”

Sections of the G1503 and S20 expressways, Wuzhou Avenue and the Changjiang Tunnel-Bridge of the G40 Expressway heading to Chongming District were some of the most severely congested, according to traffic police.

Another 1.2 million people are expected to visit tombs over the remaining two days of the holiday, the bureau said.

A traffic peak of people returning from spring outings and cemeteries is forecast from 3pm on Sunday, and it is suggested residents avoid the roads at that time, said Huang Yifei, director of the bureau’s funeral and interment department.