Zhouzhuang celebrates Duanwu Festival

Zhouzhuang a water town in East China's Jiangsu province hosts a series of activiies to celebrate Duanwu festival from June 16 to 18.

Dragon Boat Festival or Duanwu Festival in Chinese, is a traditional festival which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar to honor great Chinese poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BC).

A traditional ceremony was held to do away with bad omens and bless the participants in front of the town's Decorated Archway on the morning of June 16.

Around the same time, a tiao jia guan dance performance was staged on South Quanfu Road. The dance features Zhong Kui, a mythological figure also known as the "king of the ghosts". Children's foreheads were also painted to ward off bad luck and offer a blessing.

Dance parades and acrobatic performances were held across the town throughout the three day holiday period.

At Shen Ting, the residence of the Shens' built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and the Zhenfeng Street, which is lined with specialty stores, calamus and wormwood leaves and garlics hanged around as a tradition to be observed during this time of year. It is a method to keep away the mosquitoes and other insects which begin appearing in large amounts around the Duanwu Festival.

Herbs and colorfully-wrapped rice dumplings were used to decorate the rowboats which sped through the canal section between Twin Bridges and Quangong Bridge as part of the celebrations.

Group visitors who made reservations in advance were given point cards so they could collect four stamps to join a lottery draw by sharing photos of themselves participating in four activities. The four activities were making rice dumplings, making tiger-head shoes and hats, riding row boats and touring traditional breweries.