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Dragon Boat Festival


Zongzi-pyramid-shaped dumplings made of glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves-is a popular snack for the Dragon Boat Festivalwhich falls on June 8 this year.


Young people celebrity the festvial by taking part

in the dragon boat races held across the country.

 People in some parts of China have a tradition of putting on fragrant bags at the Dragon Boat Festival.

Dragon Boat Festival as National Holiday


Locals are likely to stay at home for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday this long weekend, even though prices for tours and accommodation, for the first time, will not rise during such a national break.

Industry sources said the holiday occurred right before the college and high school entrance examinations, which meant many families would stay at home so students could prepare for the tests.

The earthquake in Sichuan Province had also affected the tour market for the holiday.

Shanghai CYTS Tours said they would not promote overseas-bound travel or long-term travel within the country for the holiday.

"Due to the earthquake in Sichuan, the province won't accept tour groups before July," said Liu Xiaojun, an official with the agency. "Yunnan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces were also affected by the quake, so few people will choose there as their tour destination."

As short-term travel will be in demand, the Shanghai Sightseeing Bus Center will release nine new products. The tours include visiting the zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) processing factory in Jiaxing and picking fresh fruit in Hangzhou.

According to online tour service company Ctrip.com, Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province is expected to be popular as it is famous for zongzi, a traditional snack of the Dragon Boat festival.

Ningbo and Xiangshan are also tipped to be popular.

The Story of Quyuan
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    The story of this colorful summer festival concerns a famous Chinese scholar-statesman named Qu Yuan, who some three centuries before the birth of Christ, served the King of Qu during the Warring States period. As a loyal minister, Qu Yuan at first enjoyed the full confidence and respect of his sovereign.

     

    Eventually, through the intrigues of his rivals, he was discredited and found himself in disfavor. During that time, he composed his immortal poem, "Encountering Sorrow", an allegorical description of his search for a prince who would listen to good counsel in government.

     

    Qu Yuan was never able to regain the emperor's favor and on the fifth day of the fifth moon in the year 295 B.C., at the age of 37, Qu Yuan clasped a stone to his chest and plunged into the Milo River in the Hunan Province.

     

    Legend has it that local fishermen raced out in their boats to save him but failed. To protect his body, they beat drums in their boats and furiously hit the water with their paddles. They also threw rice dumplings wrapped in silk into the river as a sacrifice to his spirit.

     

    His death was and is commemerated by the Chinese each year, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, with the Tuen Ng (Dragon Boat) Festival.

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    People
      A local market vedor promotes Zongzi with nuts in Taibei, Taiwan,China.

    Children watch people practice paddling before the annual dragon boat race for the Dragon Boat Festival on the West Lake of Fuzhou, east China's Fujian province June 4, 2008.

    A man applied make-up for a child performer on Last year's festival gathering along Milou River of Central China Hunan Province.

    In-depth Coverage

     

    Traditional Chinese Festivals
    • Lantern Festival (15th of the 1st month)
      Lantern exhibits, lion and dragon dances, and eating Tang Yuan (ball-shaped boiled sweet rice dumplings with delicious stuffing.) feature this day. It is very much celebrated in the rural areas by farmers. The Lantern Festival also marks the end of the Chinese New Year season.
       
      Qing Ming (Pure & Bright in Chinese) (Fifth of the 24 Solar Terms)
      Originally it was a celebration of spring. People used to customarily go out on an excursion to "tread grass". Later it became day dedicated to the dear departed. Tidying up ancestors' tombs is its major big event.
       
      Duan Wu (Dragon Boat) Festival (5th of the 5th month)
      Said to be in memory of a great patriot poet of the then State of Chu during the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.), Qu Yuan (Ch'u Yuan), who drowned himself to protest his emperor who gave in to the bully State of Chin.
      For fear that fish may consume his body, people of Chu threw launched their boats and started throwing rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river where he was drowned to feed the fish. Now the big event of dragon boat contest may be a legacy of such activity. People today still eat the bamboo-leave rice dumplings on the occasion today.
       
       
      Mid-Autumn Festival (15th of the eighth month)

      It is second only to the Chinese New Year in significance. The moon on this day is the fullest and largest to the eye. Viewing it by the whole family while feasting on good wine, fruits and moon-cakes features the night event. There is also a beautiful story behind it. Children are told that there's fairy on the moon living in a spacious but cold crystal palace with her sole companion, a jade rabbit. A heavenly general and friend would occasionally pay her a visit, bringing along his fragrant wine. She would then dance a beautiful dance. The shadows on the moon made the story all the more credible and fascinating to the young imaginative minds.

       
      Spring Festival (The Chinese New Year) (1st of the 1st month)

      The biggest and most celebrated festival in China and part of east and south east Asia. For more details, please refer to my Chinese New Year homepage.