This year, the Dragon Boat Festival, a popular and famous Chinese holiday, was on the 22nd of June. To learn about this exciting festival, the Year Eleven Chinese class was lucky enough to get to make zòng zi, a sticky rice dumpling. We learnt how to fold the bamboo leaves to wrap up the filling of rice and dates and learnt why zòng zi are traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival: to commemorate Qu Yuan, a famous patriotic poet. Hou Lǎoshī (Mrs Hou), the teacher of the class, organised the activity and brought in everything for the class to make zòng zi with.

It was an amazing opportunity and so much fun to immerse ourselves in Chinese culture, and to devour the delicious zòng zi!

We made zong zi (粽子) in Chinese class to celebrate Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. Zòng zi is a traditional Chinese dish of sweet or savoury rice wrapped in bamboo leaves (rice dumplings). Our class split into three groups, and each group gathered around a big table, ready to make the dumplings. Ms. Hou brought bamboo leaves and half-cooked sweet rice filling for us to make zòng zi. We each grabbed a bamboo leaf and folded the leaf according to the tutorial on the board. Then we scooped a handful of rice and placed it into the folded bamboo leaves. We then folded to bamboo leaf again to fully wrap the rice inside. We took a string and tied the zòng zi so that it was entirely secured and ready to take home. I took my zòng zi home and steamed the zòng zi until it was thoroughly cooked. My family and I enjoyed the zòng zi together. It was an exceptional opportunity to learn about Chinese culture and food, and I had such a memorable experience with my Chinese class classmates and Ms. Hou.
-By Michelle Bang (11HCN)

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated every fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and in this year 2023 it falls on June 22. Our teacher told us that it was originated in ancient China based on the death of the poet and statesman of the Chu kingdom, Qu Yuan in 278 BC. The festival commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan, who was a loyal minister of the King of Chu in the third century BC.

All these remind me of my grandma making zongzi at home every Dragon Boat Festival. She made them extremely beautiful and delicate look. Traditionally zong zi were made of sticky rice, filled with various types of beans, and dates, then warped it with reed leaves into a neat triangles shape, then bonded it tie with a hemp rope.
-By Bella Zhai 11AHW