Ep. 56: The Ones Who Came Before | 我们的先辈们

Ep. 56: The Ones Who Came Before | 我们的先辈们

From The Spark Podcast 火花电台 by Amy Tianyi Zhao & Meg Dowaliby

April 9, 2026 · 1h 0m

About this episode

This episode explores the themes of mortality and ancestry through personal stories of loss and cultural connections during Qingming Festival.

Published during Qingming Festival—China’s annual tomb-sweeping holiday when families gather to honor their ancestors. What do we inherit from the people who came before us—and what do we pass on? This episode, Meg and Amy follow death across three continents. By the time you hear this, Meg will be on her fifth trip to China—this time, to bury her husband’s grandfather’s ashes in his home village in Hunan. She reflects on what it means to travel as a mother into a culture that is both foreign and deeply familiar, to say goodbye to a generation she only barely knew, and to carry her daughter into those same roots. Amy brings her own story: tracing her husband’s great-grandfather’s grave to a Japanese community cemetery in Maui, Hawaii, and sitting with the long arc of a life lived far from home. Together, they wander through questions that only the dead seem qualified to answer. What is actually worth keeping—and what do we burn? How does grief make you feel more in a family, not less? And what happens when you stand in a Chinese village and hear funeral music so beautiful it stops you cold? This is an episode about mortality as a perspective-shifter. About the grandfather who…

People in this episode

Hosts: Meg Dowaliby, Amy Tianyi Zhao

Topics covered

  • mortality
  • ancestry
  • cultural heritage
  • grief
  • family
  • travel
  • memory

Keywords

  • Qingming Festival
  • ancestors
  • grief
  • cultural heritage
  • family roots
  • travel
  • mortality

Mentioned in this episode

Places: China, Hunan, Maui, Hawaii

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