清明時節雨紛紛 / Qing Ming Festival

The following is to pay tribute to my father who passed away several years ago during the Qing Ming Festival. Just like any relationships, we had good time and bad time, including our fair share of fights and disagreements. But when all was said and done, he did leave this world knowing that he had done his best raising the family and that we were all there with him till the very end.

Tribute 1: Here is the poem entitled "Qingming" from Du Mu 杜牧 written in the 9th century / late Tang Dynasty:

清明時節雨紛紛
路上行人欲斷魂
借問酒家何處有
牧童遙指杏花村

I take the liberty of translating it into English, as follow:

Amidst the spring drizzling rain;
Our thoughts are soaked in pain.
"Shepherd, we need respite from our pilgrimage!"
And he points far at the wineshop in the Apricot Flowers Village.

Tribute 2: Here is the famous Qing Ming Festival Scroll 清明上河圖 "Along the River During Qingming Festival" painted by the Chinese painter 張擇端 Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145 AD) in between the Northern Song and Southern Song Dynasty. I quite like the accompanying music in the background as the scroll unfolds itself.

(For more info on the Qing Ming Festival, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Ming_Festival and http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/heritage/festivals/he_fest_chin.jhtml