CIUC Celebrates Chinese Dragon Boat Festival – 2023
The Dragon Boat Festival （端午节), also known as Duanwu Festival, traditionally falls on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese lunar calendar which corresponds to late May or June in the Gregorian calendar. During the festival, Chinese people commemorate Qu Yuan, who was also a minister of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). The poet tragically drowned himself in the Miluo River after he was accused of treason and banished for his well-intended advice to the king. Legend has it that upon learning of his death, locals took to boats on the river in search of his body, dropping rice into the water in an effort to prevent the fish from eating him. This is how the boats and sticky rice are attached with this festival.
Confucius Institute at University of Colombo successfully held the Dragon Boat Festival on 22nd of June, 2023 at the University of Colombo Premises with the participation of Senior Prof. Lasantha Manawadu-the Dean Faculty of Arts, as the Chief Guest and Ms. Yun Feng, Director-China Cultural Centre in Sri Lanka as the Guest of Honour. Co-Directors of the CIUC -Prof. Ma Zhongwu, Dr. Anuththaradevi Widyalankara, and the Heads of other Departments in the fAculty of Arts in this gracious event.
Dr. Anuththaradevi Widyalankara, Sri Lankan Director, Confucius Institute, welcomed the gathering. Senior Professor Lasantha Manawadu, the Dean Faculty of Arts emphasized the importance of learning a foreign language in the present global scenario and cultural experience would be the best mode to learn the language efficiently. Also he mentioned that if it is a part of cultural exchange there should be a fusion between Sri Lankan and Chinese cultural practices.
CIUC arranged three stalls covering themes such as Culture Stall, Language Stall and the Chinese food stall and given chances to students to get an awareness on Chinese culture. In fact, numerous interesting Chinese traditional games have been organized for students to experience Chinese culture. Both the university and school from different provinces actively participated in games and won prizes.
