Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival) shows

The Duanwu festival (or the Dragon Boat festival ) is tomorrow, but in Jimei ,Xiamen , the Xiamen dragon Boat Races was already taken May 23,the dragon boat teams from Guangdong province brought home the two cups in Men and Women competitions. 70 teams from the United States, Guam, Malaysia, Hongkong, Taiwan, and the Chinese mainland participated in the races. They were divided into men’s group and women’s group and then divided into different groups: the middle school students' group, the university students' group, and social group.

This year is the first year that China puts The Duanwu festival as public holiday to celebrate Chinese traditional festival. There would be more travellers to Xiamen and Xiamen hotels compared with that of last year.

So what is Duan wu festival , or we may call it Dragon Boat festival? Please follow my blog :

The Duanwu Festival (in Mandarin Chinese pronunciation) or Tuen Ng Festival (in Cantonese Chinese pronunciation) is a Chinese traditional and statutory holiday. It is a public holiday in mainland China and Taiwan, where it is called the "Duanwu Jie" and a public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is called the "Tuen Ng Jit". In English it is also referred to as "Dragon Boat Festival", after one of the traditional activities for the holiday.


The Duanwu Festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, giving rise to the alternative name of Double Fifth . In 2009, this falls on May 28. The focus of the celebrations includes eating zongzi, which are large rice wraps, drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats.

The Duanwu Festival is believed to have originated in ancient China. The most widely known legend relates to the death by suicide of Qu Yuan, a scholar and minister to the King of Chu, in 278 BC an era in Chinese history that is referred to as the Warring States period. Scholars wrote literary works, including poetry. Qu Yuan is commonly referred to as a "poet" and a "statesperson", however he is more properly considered as a ministerial scholar.

A descendant of the Chu royal house, Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance. Qu Yuan was accused of treason. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry, for which he is now remembered. Twenty-eight years later, Qin conquered the Chu capital. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month.

It is said that the local people, who admired him, threw food into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. This is said to be the origin of zongzi. The local people were also said to have paddled out on boats, either to scare the fish away or to retrieve his body. This is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing.




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1 comment:

Duanwu Festival said...

Very informative post. Duanwu Festival is commonly known as the Dragon Boat Festival.It is celebrated in Hong Kong as well as Macau. It is government declared public holiday in the province of Taiwan. Festival is generally celebrated on the fifth month’s fifth day according to the lunar calendar.