Department of Civil Affairs

Traditional cemeteries are mostly located in suburban hillside areas. With the approach of the Qingming Festival, the Mortuary Services Office (MSO) urges the elderly to bring companions and carry their mobile phones to maintain safety. To prevent cemetery fires, members of the public are reminded to remember the "4 no's and 1 remember" mantra when participating in tomb-sweeping activities: "NO" fires during weeding, "NO" burning of joss paper, "NO" setting off firecrackers, "NO" littering of cigarette butts, and "REMEMBER" to take garbage away. Members of the public are encouraged to make more use of the centralized burning of gold and silver joss paper and online ancestor worship services offered by the MSO, which is both convenient and can reduce the occurrence of fire hazards. Since many citizens visit the Fude Memorial Tower in Fude Public Cemetery, Yangmingshan’s Zhen-Ai Memorial Building and Yangmingshan Memorial Pagoda during the Qingming Festival every year, to avoid crowding, the Taipei City Government recommends that citizens pay their respects at the Memorial Buildings (Towers) in batches and visit the cemeteries or memorial buildings as early as possible or postpone to later, and to visit on weekdays.

Taipei City Department of Civil Affairs Commissioner Chen Yung-Te pointed out that during the Qingming Tomb-sweeping Festival, in order to provide the public with quality tomb-sweeping services, members of the public can access the "Qingming Information" section on the "Mortuary Services Office" official website of the Taipei City Government. The site allows the public to easily inquire about the latest traffic information during the Qingming Festival. In light of the rising awareness of environmental protection in recent years, the custom of burning joss paper and setting off firecrackers to pay respect to ancestors has been decreasing year by year. The MSO urges the public to burn gold and silver joss paper centrally (Fu De Memorial Building, Yangmingshan Memorial Pagoda, Yangmingshan’s Zhen-Ai Memorial Building all offer centralized paper-money burning services) to maintain air quality for Taipei citizens.

The MSO also stressed that due to the large number of crowds expected to converge during the Qingming Festival, in order to avoid traffic congestion and the danger of crowding, it is recommended to send representatives to participate in the ancestor worship rituals in the mountains. The MSO is also providing "Life in Remembrance" online ancestor worship. Members of the public can enter the names of relatives and friends, click on the final resting place of the deceased, and then choose Chinese or Western-style worship according to respective religious beliefs, and dedicate and convey the remembrance of the deceased. In addition, the MSO urges members of the public to pay attention to fire hazards while engaging in Qingming rituals. Before leaving the place of worship, please be sure to put out fires and avoid burning plants and trees to ensure the safety of life and property.