Hello there!

Today is April 4, Qing Ming Jie, also known as the Grave-sweeping day.

Ching Ming – clear and bright, is the time of the year when Chinese families show their respect by visiting the graves of their ancestors to clear away the weeds from the previous year; people also use this opportunity to get out and feel the first touch of spring.

I'm sure you've all heard of this poem before - “清明时节雨纷纷，路上行人欲断魂。借问酒家何处有，牧童遥指杏花村。” The spirit of the dead is supposed to return to earth today and I remember my grandma used to tell me that ghosts never walk on dry and clean roads, obviously that's a superstitous way of explaining why it always rains around this time of the year, but you'd be surprised by how ridiculously correct that saying could be - it has been raining in Xi'an.

This year is the first time that the actual day of Qing Ming is made a public holiday. I have seen and heard a lot of debate on whether it's worth the while. We used to have a 7-day long May Day Holiday during which people could travel to different parts of the country for holidays or return home to visit the familes.

By making today a public holiday, the government has shortened the May Day Holiday to three days. I personally do not like the change, simply because not that many people can actually just jump on a train to go home for three days. China  is a big country, if the train journey takes a day each way, then there is hardly any point of going!

The number of people who travel by air has been on the rise, but the majority of Chinese people still take trains. But those who work far away from home, who cannot afford to fly, simply find this new change useless to them.

Saying this, I do understand that by having the whole nation on holiday for a week inevitably brings too much pressure on the transport industry. I still remember how chaotic it was when I tried to travel during the May Day Holiday a few years ago.

Here I have to quote one of the very popular sayings - 'every coin has two sides'; it's almost impossible to ever find a solution that makes everyone happy. But I'd like to hear your comments on this.

Please send us some pictures of spring if you are out there, our email is chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.

I will be going back to London, so bye for now and enjoy the sun!

Best wishes,

Feifei from Xi'an