Qingming Festival, also known as Pure Brightness Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival that originated around the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of over 2,500 years. Initially, Qingming was an important solar term; when Qingming arrived, the temperature would rise, making it the perfect time for spring plowing and planting, hence the agricultural proverbs "Before and after Qingming, plant melons and beans" and "For tree planting and foresting, nothing surpasses Qingming." Later, because the dates of Qingming and Hanshi (Cold Food) Festival were close to each other, and Hanshi was a day when people would extinguish fire and clean graves, gradually, Hanshi and Qingming merged into one. Consequently, Hanshi became another name for Qingming and also evolved into a custom during the Qingming period where no fires are lit on Qingming day, and only cold food is consumed.
There is a legend about the Hanshi Festival: