Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival is a festival that is celebrated annually in China, and few places celebrate it with greater pomp than Hong Kong. The Stanley Dragon Boat Racing is one of the biggest dragon boat events in the world, and it features more than 100 competitors every year. The Dragon Boat Festival is called the “Duanwu Jie” in China, and it is also referred to as the Tuen Ng Festival. It takes place on the 5th day of the 5th month in the Lunar Calendar, and therefore, it is sometimes called the “Double Fifth Festival”. In the year 2008, it fell on the 8th of June. The festival is celebrated in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, as well as some Southeast Asian countries. Although there are a number of theories concerning the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, the most widely accepted theory is that the festival is held to commemorate the death of Chinese poet Qu Yuan (340 BC to 278 BC). Qu was descended from the Chu royal house, and he served as a high-ranking government official. When the emperor made a decision to ally with the state of Qin, Qu opposed the alliance, and he was banished. When he was in exile, Qu spent his time writing poems. Almost three decades after he was banished, the Chu capital was conquered by Qin. Qu was deeply saddened by the defeat of Chu, and he went to the Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th month, and drowned himself there. The locals who admired Qu’s poetry threw rice dumplings into the river to prevent the fish from eating his body. They also paddled their boats into the river in an attempt to retrieve Qu’s body. It is believed that the festival’s dragon boat racing event is held because of this incident. If this theory is correct, the Chinese people must have celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival for more than 2000 years. The celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival usually involves the preparing and eating of “zongzi”, a glutinous rice ball that is wrapped in bamboo leaves; the drinking of realgar wine; and dragon boat racing. In certain places, people also hang icons of a mythic figure called Zhong Kui, wormwood, or calamus, as well as wear perfumed bags, take long strolls, write spells, and try to make eggs stand at noon time. Some of these activities are done to ward off evil spirits and illnesses. If you are interested to witness the celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival in Hong Kong, you can join escorted tours to watch the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships. The wonderful carnival atmosphere of the Stanley Dragon Boat Racing event, as well as the intensity of the boat race and the brilliant decorations on the dragon boats will give you a most amazing cultural experience.
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