Different shades of Western and Chinese 'ghost festivals'

Residents wearing zombie make-up and costumes take a selfie during the annual Zombie Zumba party in Mandaluyong City, the Philippines, Oct 28, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Oct 31 is Halloween, a Western "ghost festival". Chinese people also have ghost festival which is called "Zhongyuan Festival" or "Hungry Ghost Festival", which falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. Stemmed from different cultures, let's see how they are different and how they are similar.

The two festivals, Halloween and Zhongyuan Festival, are both about ghosts, which are believed to be spirits of deceased people. Besides, these ghosts wander back to our life at a certain time of the year, on Oct 31 in Western culture, and on July 15 of lunar calendar in Chinese culture.

However, ghosts are released for no more than two days during Halloween, while it's at least for one month during Chinese ghost festival.