Simply Speaking
Dragon Boat Festival
[culture article]
Getting Started
  • Name a favorite festival or celebration.
  • Explain why it's your favorite.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese festival that is celebrated in Taiwan and other parts of East Asia. The festival commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a poet who drowned himself in the Miluo River in 278 BC to protest against government corruption.

The festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which falls in June or July in the Gregorian calendar. The festival is a time for people to gather together to race dragon boats, eat zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and enjoy other festivities.

The dragon boat races are the most popular event of the festival. The races are held on rivers and lakes, and each team consists of 20 to 30 rowers. The boats are decorated with colorful dragon heads and tails, and the boats race to see who can cross the finish line first.

Famillies gather to eat zongzi which is a type of sticky rice dumpling that is filled with pork, mushrooms, and other ingredients all wrapped in bamboo leaves. They are traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate the death of Qu Yuan.

Correction note: Technically, it should be paddlers, not rowers.

Rowers: use locked oars and face backwards.
Paddlers: use free oars and face forwards.

Comprehension Questions
  1. Whom does the festival commemorate?
  2. How did Qu Yuan die?
  3. Explain.
  4. What is the most popular event of the festival?
  5. Explain the dragon boat race.
  6. What is traditionally eaten during this festival?
  7. What kind of food is Zonzi?
  8. What are the ingredients of Zonzi?
Discussion
  1. What is your most favorite festival food?
  2. Explain.
Dictation 🎧
Dictation Check
  1. The festival commemorates the death of a poet who drowned himself to protest against government corruption.
  2. The festival is a time for people to gather together to race dragon boats, eat sticky rice dumplings, and enjoy other festivities.
  3. The boats are decorated with colorful dragon heads and tails.
  4. The boats race to see who can cross the finish line first.
  5. People eat sticky rice dumplings which are filled with pork, mushrooms, and other ingredients
  6. Sticky rice dumplings are wrapped in bamboo leaves.