{"id":15113,"date":"2020-06-22T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=15113"},"modified":"2020-06-15T13:56:27","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T17:56:27","slug":"the-chinese-dragon-boat-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/the-chinese-dragon-boat-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, China celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival<\/strong> (\u7aef\u5348\u8282 \u2013 du\u0101n w\u01d4 ji\u00e9). This year the holiday falls on June 25th. It has been celebrated in China for thousands of years, but it has only been a public holiday since 2008. Learn all about this traditional holiday in this post, starting with the name.<\/p>\n

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Dragon Boat races on the river.<\/p><\/div>\n

Duan Wu<\/em> Festival<\/h2>\n

In case you were wondering, \u7aef\u5348 does not actually mean “dragon boat.” Rather, the Chinese name of this festival refers to the time of year. On their own, \u7aef means “extreme” while \u5348 means “noon.” That’s because the Dragon Boat Festival falls at a time when the sun is at its highest point in the sky.<\/p>\n

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Dragon Boat Festival History and Qu Yuan<\/h2>\n

The most common legend associated with the Dragon Boat Festival is that of Qu Yuan <\/strong>(\u5c48\u539f \u2013 q\u016b yu\u00e1n). He was a poet and a statesman during the Warring States Period\u00a0<\/strong>(\u6218 \u56fd\u65f6\u4ee3 \u2013 zh\u00e0n gu\u00f3 sh\u00ed d\u00e0i).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Qu Yuan was banished due to disagreements with the king. He went into exile and wrote some of the most famous poetry in Chinese literary history.<\/p>\n