By Joseph Campbell and Yanting Feng BEIJING (Reuters) – China celebrates the Qingming tomb-sweeping festival on Monday, with much of the ceremonial ritual of honoring the dead these days not geared toward beloved relatives, but beloved pets. Once banned by Communist leader Chairman Mao Zedong as a bourgeois pastime, having a pet has now become a symbol of financial success in China, which has seen the emergence of dedicated pet cemeteries in the last few years. Qingqiu was among tomb-sweepers at one such Beijing cemetery to pay tribute to her fluffy Pomeranian "Huoban", who died at the grand old age of 15.
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