2027 Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, Duanwu, falls on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, usually in late May or June. It is traditionally said to honour Qu Yuan, a poet and statesman of the state of Chu who drowned himself in the Miluo River in 278 BC; villagers raced out in boats to find him and threw rice into the water to keep fish from his body, giving rise to the festival's two best-known customs. Dragon boat races with drummers setting the pace are held on rivers and lakes across China, and people eat zongzi, sticky rice with sweet or savoury fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves. Families also hang mugwort and calamus over doorways and wear fragrant sachets to ward off illness in the summer heat. It has been a public holiday since 2008, typically giving a three-day break, and was inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2009. This countdown ticks to midnight Beijing time on Duanwu.