The Origin of Qingming Is Absurd? It’s Basically an Ancient Tragedy About a Tyrant Boss Who Burned His Own Saviour Alive! 🔥

Hey! Babe, this weekend is the Qingming long weekend! Apart from knowing you get days off, that you’ll go sweep the graves with your family and eat runbing — do you actually know what **the origin of Qingming Festival** really is?

Let me tell you, I got bored yesterday and looked it up, and honestly I was stunned 😨! This is not some warm, touching story at all — it is a full-on horror-gossip drama of “ancient workplace bullying plus the world’s worst boss”!

Come on, pull up a chair, let me gossip properly about this ridiculous story from more than two thousand years ago ☕️.

There are two leads in this story:
One is Chong’er (who later became a very famous big boss known as Duke Wen of Jin)
The other is his fiercely loyal right-hand man, Jie Zhitui.

Back when Chong’er was still a down-and-out young nobleman, his family lost a succession struggle and he was forced into exile abroad for nineteen years. Once, the whole group was so hungry their stomachs were pressed against their backs; Chong’er actually fainted from starvation and looked about to die.

Guess how far that assistant, Jie Zhitui, was willing to go?

To save his boss, he went off somewhere with nobody around and cut the flesh from his own thigh (yes! you heard right, his own flesh! 😱), then boiled it into a bowl of soup for Chong’er. When Chong’er woke and learned the truth, he was moved to a snotty, tearful mess and swore that if he ever rose again, he would never treat this man poorly.

Right, here’s the main point.

Chong’er did eventually come through it all, returned home and became ruler. He started handing out rewards, granting office and rank to every brother who had suffered alongside him. And then — you know what happened?

He. Actually. Forgot. Jie. Zhitui.

Hello? The man cut flesh off his own thigh to feed you! You can forget a person who saved your life? Chong’er is exactly that kind of trashy, exploitative boss! 🤬

Jie Zhitui saw the whole thing for what it was. He found this bootlicking work environment revolting and could not be bothered to go asking for a reward. So he quietly packed his things, took his elderly mother, and went off to live in seclusion on a mountain called Mian. This is textbook “no grief is greater than a heart that has died”, you know?

Later, someone who could not stand it any more wrote a poem needling Chong’er: “Hey, that man who cut his own flesh to feed you doesn’t even own a new set of clothes now.”

Only then did Chong’er suddenly remember: “Ah! Right! Where is my dear Jie Zhitui?” Guilt-stricken, he rushed to Mian Mountain with a large retinue to find him.

But Jie Zhitui was stubborn too, and hid in the mountains refusing to come out for anything. At which point one of the bad teammates at Chong’er’s side offered up the single stupidest idea in recorded history:

“Boss, let’s burn the mountain. Set fire on three sides and leave one open — he’ll be afraid of burning to death and come running out on his own!”

And Chong’er actually thought this was a good idea? So he really did set the mountain alight! The fire burned for three full days before it went out.

The result? Not only did Jie Zhitui not run out… when Chong’er went up to search, he found Jie Zhitui and his elderly mother clinging to a great willow tree, burned alive…… 😭

On seeing the bodies, Chong’er broke down completely and wept, consumed with regret (too late, though, wasn’t it).

To commemorate the loyal servant he had himself destroyed, Chong’er decreed that the day the mountain burned would be known as the Cold Food Festival. On that day the whole country was ordered to observe:

• ❌ Absolutely no lighting a fire to cook ⭕️ Only cold food may be eaten

And that is exactly why we eat runbing around Qingming today — because it requires no cooking fire!

The following year, when Chong’er returned to that great willow to make offerings to Jie Zhitui, he found that the burned willow had put out new shoots 🌱! Taking this as Jie Zhitui watching over him, he named the tree the “Qingming Willow” and formally designated the day after the Cold Food Festival as **Qingming Festival**. As time went on, the Cold Food Festival and Qingming merged into one, becoming the Qingming we now know — of grave sweeping, honouring ancestors, and eating runbing!

🔥 Now That You’ve Heard the Ridiculous Story, Time for Some Earthly Joy! Five Must-Do Missions in Tainan Over the Qingming Break!

As we said, Qingming means eating runbing (spring rolls)! And since you are in Tainan, the capital of good food, how could you skip the famously queue-forming spring-roll stalls on Guohua Street and at Shuixian Temple Market?

As a professional eater, you have to experience the soul of Tainan runbing — **”Boss, load my peanut sugar powder all the way up!”** Feel that southern flavour where salty and sweet intertwine and one bite fills you with happiness, turning the sorrow of the ancient Cold Food Festival into long-weekend joy!

The ancients were only allowed cold rice on the Cold Food Festival; we moderns obviously go for cold desserts! April in Tainan is already warming up, which makes it the perfect moment for ice.

Old-school ices on Guohua Street, silky black-bean douhua in Anping, or a photogenic artisan shaved ice tucked down a lane — schedule them all in! This is the perfect itinerary: historically meaningful (?) and utterly delightful!

The ancients went into the mountains on Qingming to look for someone (and set it on fire). We moderns spend the long weekend gliding elegantly through the old city!

After you’ve eaten, we highly recommend a stroll through lanes full of old-house character such as **Shennong Street and Snail Alley**, or an afternoon as a culture lover at the **Tainan Art Museum**. No climbing mountains, no burning trees — point your camera anywhere and you’ll get the kind of miracle shot that racks up likes on Instagram 📸.

Another great Qingming tradition is the spring outing! Tainan’s most perfect spot for it has to be the **Chimei Museum**! Bring a picnic blanket, stock up on Tainan snacks, lie back on lawns worthy of a European palace and soak up the sun. Seriously chill.

If you’d rather stay out of the sun, going to see the great trees at the **Anping Tree House** is a wonderful choice too. Being wrapped up in nature is deeply soothing — and the trees here are far grander than the willow Jie Zhitui clung to (hey now)!

Jie Zhitui got the world’s worst boss, but you, coming to Tainan, absolutely deserve the highest treatment! Once you’ve eaten your fill and walked all day until your legs ache, your accommodation for the night is the last place to cut corners.

The strongest stay for the long weekend 👉 **3 Door Hotel**!

• ✅ **Unbeatable location**: extremely close to Tainan Railway Station and wonderfully easy to reach — drop your bags and sprint straight out to eat!
• ✅ **Aesthetics off the charts**: architectural beauty is woven into the rooms, every corner full of texture, carrying your creative Tainan journey perfectly onward.
• ✅ **Butler service**: here you are not a hard-pressed employee but an honoured guest, sleeping in a superb bed and recharging your long-weekend battery to 100%!

🤔 Quick-Reference Time! Qingming Festival and Tainan Travel Q&A

A: Qingming’s origin is bound up with Duke Wen of Jin (Chong’er) of the Spring and Autumn period. Trying to force his reclusive saviour Jie Zhitui down from the mountain, the duke ordered the mountain set alight, and Jie Zhitui was accidentally burned to death beneath a willow tree. The Cold Food Festival was created to commemorate him, and Qingming Festival followed from it.

A: Because the day before Qingming is the Cold Food Festival. To mourn Jie Zhitui, who had burned to death, the whole country was forbidden to light cooking fires on that day and could only eat cold food. Over time, runbing — fillings wrapped in a thin skin, requiring no fire — became the most representative traditional dish of Qingming.

A: Besides taking on a “full-sugar runbing” piled with peanut sugar powder on Guohua Street, plus old-fashioned ices and douhua, April in Tainan is ideal for a spring outing. We suggest strolling the old-house lanes of Shennong Street and Snail Alley, or taking a picnic blanket to the great lawns of the Chimei Museum for a leisurely spring afternoon.

A: For the Qingming long weekend we strongly recommend “3 Door Hotel“! Tainan’s architectural aesthetics are woven into the room design, and with attentive butler service and superb beds, you can experience the deepest possible relaxation after a full day on your feet.

A: Very! 3 Door Hotel is extremely close to Tainan Railway Station and easily reached on foot. For travellers arriving by public transport over the long weekend the location could hardly be better — drop your bags and set straight off on your Tainan food tour.