Dragon Boat Festival Celebrations Highlight Chinese Culture and International Exchange

Beijing — The Dragon Boat Festival, one of China’s most celebrated traditional festivals, will be observed this year on June 19. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month and is widely known in China as the Duanwu Festival.

As the festival approaches, various activities are being held across China, including making zongzi, organising dragon boat events, involving children in cultural programmes and observing traditional customs linked to health, protection and good wishes.

The festival is marked by several well-known traditions. People eat zongzi, a sticky rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves; wear protective sachets; tie five-coloured bracelets; hang mugwort and calamus; and watch exciting dragon boat races on rivers and lakes. These customs are associated with health, safety, blessings, family unity and cultural memory.

This year, the festival has also been linked with international cultural exchange. Yiming from China and Tudor from the United Kingdom visited an international dragon boat team in Beijing and held a fun quiz with paddlers from Japan and the United States about the Dragon Boat Festival.

Through the programme, foreign participants were introduced to the legend of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, the tradition of dragon boat racing, the custom of eating zongzi and other folk practices connected with the festival. The activity presented Chinese cultural heritage to an international audience in an engaging and participatory way.

Qu Yuan is remembered as a famous poet and patriotic figure in ancient China. According to traditional accounts, dragon boat racing and the custom of eating zongzi are linked to the story of people rowing boats to search for him and throwing rice into the river to protect his body from fish.

Today, dragon boat racing is not only a ritual or commemorative activity. It has also become an important form of sport, teamwork, cultural tourism and international exchange. The act of paddling together in one boat symbolises discipline, cooperation and collective spirit.

Ahead of the festival, community activities have already begun in different provinces and cities across China. Children have taken part in dragon boat-themed games, painting and cultural performances, while communities in both rural and urban areas have organised zongzi-making activities.

Culturally, the Dragon Boat Festival brings together Chinese traditions, family values, nature, health and patriotism. In modern times, it has also become a bridge connecting China’s intangible cultural heritage with the wider world.

The quiz and interaction with the international dragon boat team in Beijing show that the Dragon Boat Festival is no longer only a traditional Chinese celebration within China. It has become an opportunity for people from different countries to learn about Chinese history, folk culture and the spirit of collective sport.