The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional cultural festival, which popular in China and the cultural circles of Chinese characters. It celebrates every year in the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and this year’s Dragon Boat Festival is on June 22. This festival originated in China and is also known as one of the four traditional Chinese festivals.

The Dragon Boat Festival is one of the four traditional Chinese festivals, along with the Spring Festival, the Qingming Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. It is possibly the oldest among these four festivals, dating back to the Warring States Period in 227 B.C.

The festival commemorates Qu Yuan, a minister in the service of the Chu Emperor. Despairing over corruption at court, Qu drowned himself in a river. Townspeople jumped into their boats and tried to save him but they failed. Then, to preserve his body, the people scattered rice on the water to distract hungry fish.

In this day, people always race dragon boat, eat Zongzi, drink realgar wine to expel five poisonous vermin, hang mugwort, hang pictures of Zhong Kui, wear perfume pouch or scented sachets and tie five-color silk thread.

(By Yang Jiming/Qi Qian)