Chongyang or Double Ninth Festival is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. According to the book I Ching (易经 ‘Yi Jing’), the number "nine" belongs to Yang characters. Two Yang characters coincide on the ninth day of the ninth month, so it is called Chongyang in Chinese where 'Chong' stands for 'double'.
People celebrate the festival by practicing various activities, including climbing mountains, viewing chrysanthemums, wearing Zhuyu flowers, drinking chrysanthemum wines, and eating Chongyang cakes. Climbing mountains to appreciate the autumn and be grateful to the elderly are the two main themes on this festival nowadays.
Chongyang celebrations are slightly different across the regions of China. The main activity in the south of China is flying kites. Double Ninth Festival in Hong Kong, where it's called Chung Yeung, and Macau, is the day to worship the ancestors. People head to the cemeteries, clean the ancestral graves, burn incense sticks and offer food in front of the cemetery. Beijingers stick the branches and leaves of chrysanthemums at their doors and windows to draw luck. Shanghai holds Chrysanthemum Fair at the Yuyuan Garden during the Double Ninth Festival celebrations.
