1. Duan1 Wu3 Jie2
端午节節

AKA Dragon Boat Festival / Rice Dumpling
Festival

Held on the 5th day of the 5th month of the
Lunar Calendar Nong2 Li4 農 曆

To commemorate Qu1 Yuan2 屈原 , a
patriotic poet (shi1 ren2 詩人 ) from the
Warring States Period (~500 BC to 221 BC)

2. Li4 Shi3 - Zhan4 Guo2 Shi2 Dai4
歷史 - 戰國時代

7 Warring Kingdoms

A political minister (zheng4 fu3
guan1 yuan2 政府 官員 ) from the
Kingdom of Chu3 楚 , known for his
patriotism (ai4 guo2) 愛國 and loyalty
(zhong1 cheng2 忠誠 )

King of Chu fell under influence of
corrupt officials and banished (fang4
zhu2 放逐 ) Qu Yuan

In exile he produced some of the
great poetry of Chinese literature

In 278 BC, when Chu's capital was
captured (duo2 qu3 奪取 ) by the
Kingdom of Qin2 秦 , he committed
ritual suicide in protest over
corruption

3. Chuan2 Shuo1
傳說

Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Mi4 Luo2
Jiang1 汨羅江

Villagers paddled out their boats to save him,
couldn't find him

To distract the fish/evil spirits from body:
− Threw rice into the river - origin of Zong4 Zi2 粽
子
− Paddled boats around, beating drums – origin of
Long2 Chuan2 龍船 Race

4. Long2 Chuan2 / Hua2 Long2 Zhou1
龍船 / 划龍舟

Vary in Sizes, one standard is
20 paddlers, 1 steerer, 1
drummer

Oldest international races
held in Hong Kong (Xiang1
gang3 香港 )

Hong Kong started donating
boats throughout the world in
the early 80s, increasing
Dragon Boat Racing
popularity

Also popular in Europe
(Sweden), Canada, US (San
Francisco)

5. Zong4 Zi3
粽子

Sticky Rice with various
fillings, wrapped in bamboo
leaves (zhu2 ye4 竹葉 )

Triangle/Tetrahedron shape

Traditional kind – usually
pork, mushrooms, peanuts,
small dried shrimp

Sweet kind – red bean
(hong2 dou2 紅豆 ) paste
filling

Easy to heat, microwave or
steam/rice cooker