The Cold Food or Hanshi Festival (寒食节) is a traditional Chinese holiday which developed from the local commemoration of the death of the Jin nobleman Jie Zitui in the 7th century BC under the Zhou dynasty, into an occasion across East Asia for the commemoration and veneration of ancestors by the 7th-century Tang dynasty. Its name derives from the tradition of avoiding the lighting of any kind of fire, even for the preparation of food. This practice originally occurred at midwinter for as long as a month, but the hardship this involved led to repeated attempts to ban its observance out of concern for its practitioners. By the end of the Three Kingdoms Period, it was limited to three days in the spring around the Qingming solar term. Under the Tang, ancestral observance was limited to the single day which is now the Tomb-Sweeping Festival. The Tomb-Sweeping Festival is an official holiday in several countries, and the Cold Food Festival which stretches either side of it continues to see some observance in China, South Korea, and Vietnam.
Mount Mian in Shanxi
Li Tang's The Civilized Duke of Jin Recovering His State (1140)
Jie Zhitui, also known as Jie Zitui, was an ancient aristocrat who served the Jin prince Chong'er during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history. Chinese legend holds that when Chong'er finally ascended to power as the duke of Jin, Jie either refused or was passed over for any reward, despite his great loyalty during the prince's times of hardship. Jie then retired to the forests of Jin in what is now central Shanxi with his mother. Supposedly, the duke so desired to repay Jie's years of loyalty that, when Jie declined to present himself at court, he ordered a forest fire to compel the recluse out of hiding. Instead, Jie and his mother were killed by the fire on Mt Mian. By the Han, Jie was being revered in central Shanxi as a Taoist immortal. He was annually commemorated with a ritual avoidance of fire that, despite many official bans, eventually became China's Cold Food and Qingming Festivals.
The Wen Duke recovering Jin, attributed to Li Tang (AD 1140)
The major states of Zhou China during its Spring and Autumn Period
Mt Mian in Jinzhong Prefecture in central Shanxi
Qingtuan, one of the "cold foods" still eaten for the Tomb-Sweeping Festival around the Qingming solar term.