{"id":47261,"date":"2026-03-23T17:57:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T09:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3doorhotel.com.tw\/?p=47261"},"modified":"2026-09-21T23:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T15:14:19","slug":"2026-qingming-festival-story-tainan-accommodation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3doorhotel.com.tw\/en\/2026-qingming-festival-story-tainan-accommodation\/","title":{"rendered":"[Qingming 2026] Where to Stay in Tainan and Five Missions You Must Complete \u2014 Plus the Absurd Story Behind the Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Origin of Qingming Is Absurd? It’s Basically an Ancient Tragedy About a Tyrant Boss Who Burned His Own Saviour Alive! \ud83d\udd25<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

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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 \u2014 do you actually know what **the origin of Qingming Festival** really is?<\/p>\n

Let me tell you, I got bored yesterday and looked it up, and honestly I was stunned \ud83d\ude28! This is not some warm, touching story at all \u2014 it is a full-on horror-gossip drama of “ancient workplace bullying plus the world’s worst boss”!<\/p>\n

Come on, pull up a chair, let me gossip properly about this ridiculous story from more than two thousand years ago \u2615\ufe0f.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\ud83c\udf56 A Down-and-Out Young Master and an Insanely Devoted Sweetheart<\/div>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

Guess how far that assistant, Jie Zhitui, was willing to go?<\/p>\n

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! \ud83d\ude31), 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.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udca1 History footnote: this is the famous episode known as “cutting one’s thigh to serve one’s lord”. Isn’t that extraordinary? Where would you find an employee like that today!<\/div>\n
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\ud83d\udc94 The Trash Boss Gets Promoted and Instantly Forgets; the Sweetheart Retires Heartbroken<\/div>\n

Right, here’s the main point.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 you know what happened?<\/p>\n

He. Actually. Forgot. Jie. Zhitui.<\/p>\n

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! \ud83e\udd2c<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udd25 The Worst Flush-Him-Out Plan in History: Set the Mountain on Fire?!<\/div>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

“Boss, let’s burn the mountain. Set fire on three sides and leave one open \u2014 he’ll be afraid of burning to death and come running out on his own!”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The result? Not only did Jie Zhitui not run out\u2026 when Chong’er went up to search, he found Jie Zhitui and his elderly mother clinging to a great willow tree, burned alive\u2026\u2026 \ud83d\ude2d<\/p>\n

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\ud83c\udf2f So What Does Any of This Have to Do with Qingming?<\/div>\n

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

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:<\/p>\n