--- title: Google Doodle: What to Know About Asia Dragon Boat Festival description: It's time once again for Dragon Boat Festival, a holiday observed across parts of Asiawith elaborate vessels and delicious dumplings canonical: https://time.com/5314503/google-doodle-dragon-boat-festival-2018/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-18T07:48:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:17.360Z og:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Asia's Dragon Boat Festival og:description: The annual celebration honors an ancient Chinese poet og:url: https://time.com/5314503/google-doodle-dragon-boat-festival-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32e7474c206df89d/6989333fe76ad2e69b6324ab/2018-dragon-boat-festival-6430783374884864-2x.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2018-dragon-boat-festival-6430783374884864-2x og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Asia's Dragon Boat Festival twitter:description: The annual celebration honors an ancient Chinese poet twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32e7474c206df89d/6989333fe76ad2e69b6324ab/2018-dragon-boat-festival-6430783374884864-2x.png?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What to Know About Asia's Annual Dragon Boat Festival by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jun 18, 2018 7:48 AM UTC  June 18th marks the beginning of the Dragon Boat Festival. June 18th marks the beginning of the Dragon Boat Festival.Google Doodle by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Jun 18, 2018 7:48 AM UTC Seated inside a canoe shaped like a giant mythical creature, rowers thrash their oars into the sea, racing to the beat of a drumming captain. Monday’s [colorful Google Doodle](https://www.google.com/doodles/dragon-boat-festival-2018) celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival, a holiday observed across parts of Asia and beyond with elaborately decorated vessels, delicious dumplings and offerings. Also known as _Duanwu_ in Mandarin and _Tuen Ng_ in Cantonese, the festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the traditional Chinese calendar and marking the summer solstice, ushering in a new season of health and well-being. ## Why do people celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival? As legend has it, the holiday commemorates an exiled Chinese poet-official named Qu Yuan who is believed to have committed suicide. During China’s Warring States period, an era of division and conflict more than 2,000 years ago, China was divided into several kingdoms. Qu, a royal adviser in the state of Chu, tried warn the king of impending danger, only to be exiled. When Qu heard of the eventual invasion into his country, he drowned himself in despair in the Miluo River. In a bid to save him, locals paddled frantically through the water, beating drums to warn fish away from his body and tossing rice dumplings into the water as spiritual offerings. These rituals inspired the most popular holiday traditions today.  June 18th marks the beginning of the Dragon Boat Festival. Google Doodle ## How is the festival observed? Rowers train for weeks, sometimes months, in the lead-up to the festival, when they load up on boats and race to a watery finish line. Others often sit on the sidelines and enjoy traditional sticky rice dumplings called _zongzi_. Wrapped in bamboo or lotus leaves, the rice is mixed with flavors that vary by region. In northern China, _zongzi_ are typically sweet, filled with a red bean paste or taro. In the south, they’re usually made savory with cured pork belly, sausage and mushrooms. In Taiwan, some are made with salted eggs, peanuts, chestnuts and squid. ## Where do people celebrate? While the Dragon Boat race is a longstanding Chinese tradition, China only reintroduced the holiday in 2008 after a major hiatus following the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when Chairman Mao Zedong banned many cultural traditions that predated his New China. Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is a public holiday in many parts of Asia, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, while traditions are also observed in Macao, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5314503/google-doodle-dragon-boat-festival-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5314503/google-doodle-dragon-boat-festival-2018/"},"headline":"Here's What to Know About Asia's Annual Dragon Boat Festival","datePublished":"2018-06-18T07:48:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:17.360Z","description":"The annual celebration honors an ancient Chinese poet","url":"https://time.com/5314503/google-doodle-dragon-boat-festival-2018/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google Doodle","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32e7474c206df89d/6989333fe76ad2e69b6324ab/2018-dragon-boat-festival-6430783374884864-2x.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32e7474c206df89d/6989333fe76ad2e69b6324ab/2018-dragon-boat-festival-6430783374884864-2x.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2018-dragon-boat-festival-6430783374884864-2x","caption":"June 18th marks the beginning of the Dragon Boat Festival.","creditText":"Google Doodle","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/5314503/google-doodle-dragon-boat-festival-2018/","name":"Here's What to Know About Asia's Annual Dragon Boat Festival"}}]}] ```