China FESTIVAL MUST-SEE: DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE DR AGON BOAT F E S T I VAL

June 18, 2018

Observed for over 2,000 years, this energetic festival commemorates the death of the ancient Chinese minister and poet Qu Yuan, who committed suicide by jumping into a river and drowning after being banished by the emperor due to political machinations.

The common folk, who loved the upright and patriotic minister, sought to prevent his body from being desecrated by throwing cooked rice into the river to feed the fish within. Fishermen also rowed their boats into the river to look for his body, and beat their oars against the water to scare the fish away.

Today, a popular spectator sport is the river race held on dragon boats, which are so named because they are painted to look like Chinese dragons: Their stern features a colourful wooden dragon head. The teams on these boats compete to reach the finish line first by rowing at a frenetic pace, guided by the beat of a drummer on every boat. The sport has become popular globally.

The cooked rice tradition started by the death of Qu Yuan has also transformed: It is now made into a popular festival snack called zong zi, which are triangular shaped dumplings of glutinous rice filled with meat, mushrooms, chestnuts, sweet bean paste or other fillings such as candied melon, eggs and jujubes. They are also sometimes dipped in sugar before being eaten. The dumplings are traditionally made by hand in households, and are wrapped in reed leaves several days before the festival.

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