端午节英文介绍 Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival

Hello, everyone, today I will give you the introduction of the Dragon Boat Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese lunar calender. It has had a history of more than 2000 years. The country also attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. The State Council approved the inclusion of the folk first batch of national intangible cultural heritage on May 20, 2006.

There are many legends about the evolution of the festival, such as Qu Yuan, Cao E and Wu Zixu. Scholars has provided many explanations about the origin of the dragon Boat Festival. Next I will introduce one of them--Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan, an honest, upright, loyal minister of the Kingdom of Chu who is said to have committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo river. In order to avoid his body to be eaten by fish and shrimp [ʃrɪmp], people cast many of bamboo rice into the river, and compete to row /hoping to rescue and recover the body of Qu Yuan. Starting from that time to this day, people commemorate [kəˈmeməreɪt] poet Qu Yuan through dragon boat races, eating rice dumplings, and several other activities on the anniversary of his death.

Next I will introduce some of the most representative customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. The first one is rice dumplings. Eating rice dumplings on the Dragon Boat Festival is a Chinese traditional custom. People will prepare rice dumplings on the early Dragon Boat Festival every year. It is an essential food of the Dragon Boat Festival. The rice dumpling is a glutinous [ˈɡluːtənəs] rice ball /with a filling

wrapped [ræpt] in reed [riːd] or other plant leaves and tied with colored thread [θred]. Now the fillings are more diversified, including eggs, beans, dates(枣), meat or a combination of them. Next is dragon boat race. The festival is best known for its dragon boat races which are the most exciting part of the festival, especially in the southern provinces where there are many rivers and lakes. As the gun is fired, people will see competing teams drive their colorful dragon boats forward to a drumbeat/ racing to reach the /finish end /first.

With the changes of the times，the memorial turns to be a time for protection from evil and disease for the rest of year. People will hang healthy herbs on the front door to clear the bad luck of the house. Although the significance of the festival might be different with the past, it still gives the observer an opportunity to glimpse a part of the rich Chinese cultural heritage.

Today, Dragon Boat Festival in the Chinese people is still a very popular grand festival and has been officially included in the national holidays. I hope Chinese people will remember it isn’t just entertainment, we should have more kind of feelings on it. Thank you.