Dragon Boat Festival

When it is

Dragon Boat Festival (端午节, Duān Wǔ Jié) is the 5th day of the 5th lunar month — typically late May or June. The official public holiday is three days.

Recent dates: - 2025: 31 May - 2026: 19 June - 2027: 9 June

What it commemorates

The traditional account: the 4th-century BCE poet and statesman Qu Yuan, exiled from the kingdom of Chu and grieved at his country's decline, drowned himself in the Miluo River in 278 BCE. Local fishermen rowed out to find him; the dragon boat race tradition emerged. They threw rice into the water to keep fish from his body; the zongzi dumpling tradition emerged.

What happens

• Zongzi (粽子, zòng zi): pyramidal sticky-rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. Sweet versions (red bean, jujube date) in the north; savoury versions (pork, salted egg yolk, mushroom) in the south. The wrapping technique is itself an art; eaten fresh or steamed-warmed.
• Dragon boat races: long narrow paddle boats with dragon-head and tail carvings, crews of 18–22 paddlers, drum at the bow setting the rhythm. Major races in Hong Kong, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Yueyang (the Miluo River origin).
• Calamus and mugwort hung at doors to ward off evil spirits.
• Five-coloured silk threads tied around children's wrists for protection.
• Realgar wine (雄黄酒): traditionally drunk; modern versions use a small symbolic dot rather than actual realgar (which is toxic).

Where to see dragon boats

• Hong Kong — Stanley Beach is the major event; smaller races at Sai Kung, Aberdeen, Tai O. Tickets sell out for grandstand seats.
• Yueyang (Hunan) — the Miluo River races, closest to the historical origin.
• Hangzhou West Lake races.
• Macau Praia Grande Bay.
• Foshan (Guangdong) — long competitive racing tradition.

Most cities organise a dragon boat race somewhere in the metro area on or near the holiday weekend.

Travel impact

Three-day holiday. Domestic flights and train tickets tighten on the long-weekend dates. Manageable for foreign travellers; less disruptive than Spring Festival or Golden Week.

What zongzi to try

• Jiaxing zongzi (嘉兴粽) — the canonical pork-and-salted-egg-yolk savoury version from Zhejiang.
• Cantonese zongzi — larger, often with multiple fillings (pork, mushroom, peanut, salted egg).
• Sichuan-style spicy zongzi — chilli-and-Sichuan-peppercorn savoury.
• Northern sweet — red-bean or jujube-date.

Most supermarkets stock pre-made zongzi for the week before the festival; specialist shops in tier-1 cities sell hand-made ones.