SHANGHAI, June 20 -- A CHINESE legislator has called for the Dragon Boat Festival to be given national holiday status to help preserve the country's cultural heritage and promote patriotism.

"Many traditional festivals, such as Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mid-Autumn Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival, are not public holidays on the mainland, which undermines the spread of Chinese culture," said Zhu Weifang, a deputy to the National People's Congress.

"The Dragon Boat Festival should be a good opportunity to educate the young about traditional values of patriotism, as the festival has been celebrated for thousands of years to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great Chinese patriotic poet during the Warring States period (475-221 BC)," said Zhu, who is also vice director of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress.

Qu, who lived in the state of Chu, drowned himself in the Miluo River in today's Hunan Province in 278 BC, on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, hoping his death would prompt the king to revitalize the kingdom.

The tradition arose that on the day of his death dragon boat races would be held and people would eat zongzi, glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. Legend has it that people threw zongzi into the river to keep the fish from eating Qu's remains.

This year's festival took place yesterday.

With the day excluded from the list of public holidays, young people fail to appreciate the festival's significance, Zhu said.

"Chinese traditional festivals are full of humanitarian spirit and affection, and family reunions are regarded as a way to pass down Chinese culture."

Zhu was confident that the Dragon Boat Festival and other traditional celebrations would become national holidays on the mainland "in the near future." Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan already celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival as a public holiday.