Mainlanders enjoy Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan

Although Han Jibin misses the sweet zongzi rice dumplings from his hometown in Central China's Hubei province, he is still fond of Taiwan's savory zongzi stuffed with meat and mushroom.

"People in Taiwan?are really hospitable. When I visit my friends in Taichung and Kaohsiung, they always give me the best food and I really enjoy the Dragon Boat Festival in Taipei," said Han, who is here for the third time.

Duanwu, the Dragon Boat Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. It falls on Monday this year.

Yu from Jiangsu province arrived in Taipei on Sunday. She told Xinhua that she felt at home because the island shares the same traditions as the mainland: reunion with family members, eating zongzi and watching the boat races.

On Monday morning, people from across the Strait watched the dragon boat racing in Dajia Riverside Park. A confirmed sinophile, Russian racer Vitaly has taken part in the dragon boat racing for four years.

"Dragon boat racing symbolizes traditional Chinese culture, and it represents not only sporting spirit but friendship," said Vitaly.

The festival commemorates the legendary death of Qu Yuan, a poet and minister from the Warring States Period who committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River.

Local residents who admired him threw zongzi into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. At the same time, they paddled out in boats to retrieve his body, believed to be the origin of dragon boat racing.