China nominates Duanwu Festival for UNESCO list

2009-05-28 06:22:47 GMT China Daily Authorities in Hubei province have submitted an application to UNESCO nominating China's Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival for the "Intangible Culture Heritage" tag.

China nominates Dragon Boat Festival as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage

2009-05-28 02:51:29 GMT Xinhua English WUHAN, May 28 (Xinhua) -- China has submitted an application to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to nominate the Dragon Boat Festival as an intangible cultural heritage.

Flu scare chills China's holiday tourism

2009-05-27 14:54:04 GMT Xinhua English BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tour companies are promoting short, domestic trips for the upcoming three-day holiday as the A/H1N1 flu casts a shadow over travel.

China's efforts to list Duanwu a UN heritage in process

2009-05-27 08:14:21 GMT Xinhua English BEIJING, May 27 -- The process of proposing China's Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu Jie to be included onto the UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list has proceeded smoothly, Changjiang Daily reports.

People remember poet Qu Yuan during Duanwu Festival

2009-05-28 10:10:48 GMT Xinhua English Children recite Lisao, a long poem of patriotism by Qu Yuan, , the venerable patriotic poet of the Chu State in the Warring States Period (476 - 221 BC), during a commemorative ceremony for Qu Yuan, in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, May 28, 2009.

Performance to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival

2009-05-28 08:20:40 GMT SINA.com Many Chinese spend Thursday eating sticky rice cakes wrapped in bamboo leaves and watching teams row boats with dragon-shaped prows up rivers in what may be the nation's most ironic official holiday, the Dragon Boat Festival.

Kids play near empty dragon boats

2009-05-28 08:16:30 GMT SINA.com Many Chinese spend Thursday eating sticky rice cakes wrapped in bamboo leaves and watching teams row boats with dragon-shaped prows up rivers in what may be the nation's most ironic official holiday, the Dragon Boat Festival.

Rowers race dragon boats in Beijing

2009-05-28 08:12:21 GMT SINA.com Many Chinese spend Thursday eating sticky rice cakes wrapped in bamboo leaves and watching teams row boats with dragon-shaped prows up rivers in what may be the nation's most ironic official holiday, the Dragon Boat Festival.

Drink realgar wine during the Duanwu Festival

2009-05-27 07:30:02 GMT SINA.com Duanwu is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, because dragon boat races are the most popular activity during the festival, especially in Southern China. A dragon boat is shaped like a dragon, and is brightly painted in red, white, yellow and black. Usually, a dragon boat is 20 to 40 meters long, and needs several dozen people to row it. Boatmen row the boat in cadence with the drumbeats, as the captain standing in the bow of the boat waves a small flag to help coordinate the rowing. Before the race gets underway, a solemn ceremony is held to worship the Dragon King.

Origins of Zongzi

2009-05-27 07:19:26 GMT SINA.com Origins

Dragon boat race in Duanwu Festival

2009-05-27 07:14:36 GMT SINA.com A dragon boat or "dragonboat" is a very long and narrow, canoe style human-powered boat now used in the team paddling sport of dragon boat racing which originated in China over 2000 years ago. While competition has taken place annually for more than 20 centuries as part of folk ritual, it emerged in modern times as an international "sport" in Hong Kong in 1976. Like running, horse racing and marksmanship, the racing of dragon boats is among mankind's oldest organized competitions.

Origins of Duanwu Festival

2009-05-27 07:10:27 GMT SINA.com The Duanwu Festival (in Mandarin Chinese pronunciation) or Tuen Ng Festival (in Cantonese Chinese pronunciation) is a Chinese traditional and statutory holiday. It is a public holiday in mainland China and Taiwan, where it is called the "Duanwu Jie" and a public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is called the "Tuen Ng Jit". In English it is also referred to as "Dragon Boat Festival", after one of the traditional activities for the holiday.