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Ching Ming means "clear and bright". Ching Ming is considered to be an original Chinese religious practice of honoring the dead.
Food offering include wine, rice, chicken, pork, cakes, tea and dim sum are laid out at the grave side.
In modern times, Ching Ming is considered more of a traditional cultural practice than a religious practice. This cultural practice is the Chinese way of honoring the ancestors.
During springtime each year, families make a trek to the family grave sites to burn incense and to offer prayers, food and drink at the graveside. Also, symbolic money is burned for the dead to use on their journey in the after life. This practice of Ching Ming continues until the individual reaches his (/her) one hundredth birthday.
Chinese wine decanter and cups.
The family of Wong Chong Yao did their filial duty each year and went to the Chinese graveyard in Manoa Valley. There they placed the traditional offerings on the grave. The highlight of the offerings was a roasted pig. After the prayers, burning of money and firecrackers, the family went to the Kuakini Street residence of Bung Kwai to eat, drink and socialize.
Bung Yai was the brother who chopped up the pig into morsel sized pieces for the family meal, and Yuen Tung Kwai, Bung Kwai's wife, provided the rest of the food for the celebration.
Not all members of the family were Buddhists or Taoists, but they respected the religious practices of their parents and ancestors and continued the rituals. Ching Ming was practiced until both Wong Chong Yao and Ching Shee turned a hundred years old.
