The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, is a traditional and important celebration in China.
The Dragon Boat Festival is one of the most ancient festivals, with a history of more than 2000 years. There are various celebration activities on the day of Dragon Boat Festival, among which eating rice dumplings and dragon boat racing is held across the country to celebrate the Festival.
There are numerous legends about the festival’s origins. The most popular one is to commemorate the life of Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan (340–278 BC), who was a patriotic poet and exiled official during the Warring States Period of ancient China. He drowned himself in the Miluo River (a branch of Yangtze River) on the 5th day of the 5th Chinese lunar month, when his beloved Chu State fell to the State of Qin. Local people desperately rowed along the river to find his body, to no avail. One of them took out some cooked rice balls, throwing them into the water. He explained that as long as the fish were fed, they would not bite Mr. Qu's body. People in the area all followed this example. Gradually the rowing developed into dragon boat racing and rice balls became tzung tzu (or zongzi, glutinous rice wrapped in a pyramid shape using bamboo or reed leaves), passed down from generation to generation as a Chinese tradition.
The Dragon Boat Festival in 2017 falls on May 30 (Tuesday). During the Festival, Tianjin University will hold various activities to celebrate, including zongzi giving, and learning to make zongzi. On the morning of May 30, canteen No. 5 on the Peiyang Park Campus will start the zongzi distribution. On the same day between 2:00 – 4:30 pm at canteen No. 2 on the Peiyang Park Campus, about 30 students will learn to make zongzi on site. At the student dormitory, staff and students will make zongzi together. Some dormitory staff who are good at painting, made hand drawings with the theme of Dragon Boat Festival on the blackboard newspaper, adding to the festival and family atmosphere around the dormitory.
Photo Designer: Wang Zixuan
Editors: Sun Xiaofang and Ross Colquhoun
