Celebrate the Tuen Ng A.K.A. Dragon Boat Festival this Saturday by eating some sticky rice or watching a dragon boat race!
According to popular legend, the festival started when a Chinese official named Qu Yuan was banished for opposing an alliance between the Qin state and his native state of Chu. Years later when the Qin captured the Chu capital, he committed suicide by drowning himself in a river.
The locals raced out on boats to try and retrieve his body and brought offerings of rice to distract the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s corpse. As a result, those traditions are continued today with the dragon boat races and the sticky rice treat “zongzi” eaten during this time.
Celebrate this traditional Chinese festival by watching the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championship this Saturday at Stanley Main Beach from 8am to approximately 6pm. There are also other races to watch from Tai O, Aberdeen, Cheung Chau to Saikung.
If you miss that race, don’t worry because the three-day Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races event will also take place from July 3-5 in Victoria Harbor!
What: SunLife Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships
When: 8am to approx. 6pm on June 20th, 2015
Where: Stanley Main Beach (Google Maps)
Price: FREE
Photo: istolethetv via Flickr
