Reservations mandatory for tomb-sweeping trips to cemeteries

Reservations are mandatory for visits to the cemeteries during the four tomb-sweeping days during dongzhi, or the Winter Solstice, to avoid large gatherings due to COVID-19 control measures, Shanghai's civil affairs authorities announced on Monday.

Winter Solstice, like Qingming Festival, is a time when people of China pay respects to their ancestors.

It falls on December 21 this year, but the tomb-sweeping period will start from early December, the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau said.

The number of tomb sweepers is estimated to peak on December 18, 19, 20 and 21, and reservations for visits to local cemeteries will open from 8am on December 10, the bureau said.

Six reservation time slots are available daily for the four days, each of them lasting one and a half hours.

The daily reservations numbers will be kept below 75 percent of the daily maximum capacity.

Traffic congestion is still expected in some areas of the city. The 54 cemeteries and columbariums in the city are expected to receive 1.95 million visits from early December until the end of dongzhi, bringing an extra 344,200 vehicles onto the roads.

About 23,000 urns are expected to be interred during the period. On the four peak days, authorities are 1.27 million visits.