4 April 2012 Last updated at 08:04

In pictures: Tomb-sweeping festival

A man fires a confetti popper among tombstones at a public cemetery in Jinjiang, Fujian, 3 April 2012

Chinese communities around Asia are marking the annual Qingming Festival on 4 April - also known as Tomb-sweeping Day.

A man cleans up the tomb of his ancestors in a public cemetery in Taipei, 4 April 2012

It is a day when people pay tribute to their ancestors by visiting their graves, and the ritual always begins with some proper cleaning.

A women repaints the characters on the tombstone of her family grave at a cemetery in Beijing, China, 4 April 2012

China, Hong Kong and Taiwan all observe a public holiday for the traditional occasion. A three-day holiday began on 2 April in mainland China.

People visit their family grave for Qingming Festival in Shanghai, 3 April 2012

People offer food, incense sticks and paper replicas of various daily items for the deceased to use in their afterlife.

Paper replicas of the iPhone, iPad and iPod are burnt for the deceased at a cemetery in Fuzhou in southeast China, 2 April 2012

In recent years offerings to the dead have become more elaborate - the most talked-about offerings this year are replicas of Apple's iPad and iPhone.

A Chinese woman prays at the tomb of a family member at a cemetery in Beijing, 3 April 2012

Some environmentalists have appealed for people to offer flowers instead, as the burning of incense sticks and paper offerings creates pollution.

Chinese people visit their family graves at the Babaoshan Cemetery during Qingming Festival in Beijing, 4 April 2012

Cemeteries become very crowded during the festival. Reports from Beijing say the most famous Babaoshan Cemetery has offered to keep its doors open beyond midnight to relieve the pressure.

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In pictures: Tomb-sweeping festival

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