By Will Schick

Washington, DC — In April, many Chinese families gather at cemeteries and family altars to take part in a tradition known as “qingming” or “grave-sweeping.” The Confucian custom involves burning fake money, lighting incense and having a meal at the cemetery to honor the lives of past family members who have died

The 1882 Foundation recently used the annual tradition to remember a historic Chinese cemetery in the nation’s capital.  

A group of local volunteers and residents were forced to postpone their qingming plans on account of the rain. They had planned to visit the far northeast corner of Washington DC’s Congressional Cemetery, the site of a humble memorial called Range 99 that honors the lives of Chinese residents who had been buried on-site a century ago. 

In accordance with tradition, the nearly 100 Chinese residents who had been interred on site between 1896 and 1938 had their remains exhumed and sent back to their ancestral homes 10 years after they were buried. 

The repatriation ensured that their lives were recorded in family registers known as “jiapu.” Throughout China, jiapus maintained at family altars contained the remains of all family members. The records for some families could stretch back thousands of years. They connected people to their histories.

“Your altar is very important because that’s your linkage into this system. That’s your theology or sense of who you are and who you belong to,” explained Ted Gong, the executive director of the 1882 Foundation, a research nonprofit behind the Range 99 memorial.

Given the inclement weather, Gong decided to adapt the day’s schedule to include a hybrid virtual and live program to discuss the importance of genealogy and Chinese tradition. He also used the opportunity to share the history behind Range 99.

In his presentation, he explained how Chinese family associations across the United States would often go to great lengths to ensure the deceased made it back to their ancestral family altars. 

In 2015, Gong, working in conjunction with the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and a team of volunteers, unveiled a new memorial they constructed atop the previously abandoned gravesite. They installed two metal benches and an inscribed black plaque surrounded by red bricks etched with various names.

The site was donated to the 1882 foundation from the descendents of a Mr. Frank Lee Quann (a non Chinese heritage resident who was versed in the traditions) and for many years, handled the exhuming and returning of the deceased to China.

The monument represents a new tradition within the Chinese American community, one that Gong and others are hoping to help more communities embrace. It involves reclaiming an old custom, by giving people the ability to also lay claim to this piece of land as a new ancestral home.

The 1882 Foundation offers bricks for sale to anyone who would like to have their names attached to the place, the only requirement is having some kind of connection to the US. In return, volunteers will visit the site every year, not necessarily to light incense or burn paper money, but to honor their memories and connection to the area.

“The significance of why qingming is very important is not only to remember where we came from, or where these people came from, but also to remember and to affirm that we are part of the United States,” Gong said.

Though, many families of Chinese heritage began to abandon the qingming practice at the early onset of the 20th century with the advent of Japanese colonialism and the rise of the Peoples’ Republic of China, there are many others still, who have long grown up with the practice.

Celina Gore, a local resident who attended the presentation, recalled taking part in Qingming while growing up, visiting a cemetery south of San Francisco every year.

“I think it’s kind of weird to explain other people like ‘Oh, we kind of have, like, a picnic here at their grave. I don’t know in other in other cultures if they celebrate this…But yeah, it’s just something we did,” she said.

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