--- description: Google celebrates the annual Dragon Boat Festival, a holiday observed across Asia, with a new Doodle depicting an elaborate vessel title: Google Celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival with a New Doodle image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49410b2bb17c5c6b/6988cf4d8e060119aa46a951/dragon-boat-festival-2017-5927398569672704-2xa-1.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Google Celebrates Asia's Dragon Boat Festival with a New Doodle by [Feliz Solomon](/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 30, 2017 2:03 AM CUT  Google by [Feliz Solomon](/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 30, 2017 2:03 AM CUT For more than 2,000 years, revelers across Asia come out in droves for one day in early summertime to eat sticky dumplings and race ornate boats shaped like dragons, an event typically traced back to honoring the Chinese poet and erstwhile official Qu Yuan. Google celebrates the occasion with a [new Doodle ](https://www.google.com/doodles/dragon-boat-festival-2017 "undefined")depicting an elaborate vessel. This year, May 30 marks the holiday of Duanwu, also known as Tuen Ng, Zhongxiao, or simply the Dragon Boat Festival, when rowers will show off their months of rigorous practice in festive races off the shores of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere. As legend has it, the event commemorates the death of Qu, who immortalized China’s Warring States Period through verse. The bard is believed to have been exiled from his home sometime in the late 4th century B.C. after being slandered by members of the Han Dynasty. While roaming the Chinese countryside, he collected stores of folk tales and other stories that he later canonized in his writing. Qu is best known for an anthology of verse called the _Chu Ci_, or the _Songs of the South_. He is believed to have committed suicide by wading into the Miluo River while holding a rock. **Read More:** [_The Dragon Boat Festival Has Nothing to do With Dragons. Here are Four Things to Know_](http://time.com/4797048/dragon-boat-festival-duanwu-tuen-ng/?xid=homepage "undefined") The Dragon Boat Festival is a public holiday in many parts of Asia, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. In China, celebrants carefully prepare dumplings called _zongzi_, drink a local yellow wine and carry perfumed medicinal satchels as rowers cut through the harbors. The festival is meant to mark the summer solstice, ushering in a new season of health and well-being. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4797421/google-doodle-dragon-boat-china/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4797421/google-doodle-dragon-boat-china/"},"headline":"Google Celebrates Asia's Dragon Boat Festival with a New Doodle","datePublished":"2017-05-30T02:03:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:59.427Z","description":"The colorful festival is celebrated across Asia with regattas, yellow wine and rice dumplings","url":"https://time.com/4797421/google-doodle-dragon-boat-china/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google Doodle","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49410b2bb17c5c6b/6988cf4d8e060119aa46a951/dragon-boat-festival-2017-5927398569672704-2xa-1.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feliz Solomon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49410b2bb17c5c6b/6988cf4d8e060119aa46a951/dragon-boat-festival-2017-5927398569672704-2xa-1.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"dragon-boat-festival-2017-5927398569672704-2xa (1)","caption":"","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4797421/google-doodle-dragon-boat-china/","name":"Google Celebrates Asia's Dragon Boat Festival with a New Doodle"}}]}] ```