Dragon Boat Festival 端午 resources
- Available on request
- Flexible
The Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival, ‘Duanwu’ or 端午, is an important traditional festival in China and many other Asian countries.
The festival is actually a celebration of the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan who, according to legend, drowned in a river during the ‘Warring States’ period (c. 475 to 221 BCE). It is said that after discovering what had happened, local people frantically raced their boats to search for him, dropping lumps of rice into the river in the process so that fish would not feast on his body.
This is the reason that so many boat races are held at this time, and why families make and eat ‘zongzi’ - a kind of sticky rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves.
As Qu Yuan is said to have drowned on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, then the festival is held every year on this day. The date changes for those of us who use other calendars however so in 2023, the festival lands on 22 June.
Activities for schools
Online resources
To get access to Cardiff Confucius Institute’s resources for you to use independently with pupils in class please email ucelev@cardiff.ac.uk.
China Days and China Half Days
For our China Days / China Half Days, two Cardiff Confucius Institute tutors will design and deliver tailor-made sessions for your pupils based around the Dragon Boat Festival. Activities might include a talk on how this event is celebrated in China; teaching pupils how to make their own little paper dragon boats; or holding a special Dragon Boat Festival assembly.
China Days and China Half Days:
- may be held in person or online
- are available in person for schools no more than 45 minutes by public transport from Cardiff
- last approximately 4-5 hours (China Days) and or 2.5 hours (China Half Days)
Please note that these events are based on staff availability, and we will be asking for a contribution to cover our costs.
Please email confucius@cardiff.ac.uk to discuss your options with the subject line: Dragon Boat Festival China Day.
Other resources
Videos from Dragon Boat Festival Activities Day
On 27 May 2022, pupils enjoyed live interactive online sessions with Cardiff Confucius Institute tutors at our Dragon Boat Festival Activities Day.
At special sessions, children discovered the origins of the event; learnt some Mandarin words & phrases related to the festival; found out what Chinese people eat; and even made paper zongzi!
Videos of the sessions:
To find all videos visit our YouTube Dragon Boat Festival 2022 playlist.
Further resources
- Find out about the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival in this video presentation (21:40 minutes), which includes:
- an introduction to what people in mainland China do during this time
- the true story behind this festival
- the ‘standing-eggs-at-noon’ game
- Learn how to make zongzi, traditional rice dumplings (PDF).
Find out more
For more information about the activity, please visit our website.
About the organiser
This activity is organised by Cardiff Confucius Institute. Contact Victoria Ucele at confucius@cardiff.ac.uk for more details.
How to book
These online Dragon Boat Festival activities can be used by school pupils either in class, with their families or by themselves.
This activity is free
Audience
Teacher supervision is required.
