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On the weekend of the Dragon Boat Festival, 20-22 June, I was invited by Chinese friends to again experience the spectacular scenery around their village in southern Shanxi Province (you can see pictures from my earlier trip here). Dragon Boat races are traditionally a southern China event, but we did see races on a lake in Qin County as part of our travels. Other places we visited weekend included a 1000-year old cliff temple (Gaohuanyundong), Huangya Cave Arsenal (part of the Red Army resistance against the Japanese invasion), and Taiji Grand Canyon including an ancient cliff village.

Dragon Boat races, Qin County

1000-year old cliff temple (Gaohuanyundong)

Walking to Huangya Cave Arsenal

Walking to Huangya Cave Arsenal

Huangya Cave

Taiji Grand Canyon

Ancient cliff village, Taiji Grand Canyon

Duanwu Festival, also known as Dragon Boat Festival, is an eastern and south-eastern Asian festival involving Dragon Boat races, special foods, and other traditions – find out more in the CNTV Special Feature Chinese Dragon Boat Festival.

Qu Yuan was a patriotic poet who lived in 300 BC. He jumped into the Miluo River in northeast Hunan province to prove his loyalty to his home country, and was drowned. The Dragon Boat Festival, which is held to commemorate Qu Yuan on lunar May 5 every year (this year June 16 in the western calendar), is an important traditional holiday in China. But this year, the Dragon Boat Festival held even more significance for all Chinese.

In September 2009, the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization honored the Dragon Boat Festival as a World Intangible Heritage. The Dragon Boat Festival, which includes racing boats, eating zongzi dumplings and observing other folk customs, is the first festival in the history of China to be named a World Intangible Heritage.

Read more in this China Daily article.