2012 Qu Yuan Cultural Festival launches

The opening ceremony of the 2012 Qu Yuan Cultural Festival started on June 21 at the Zigui county of Yichang city, Hubei province.

The festival was held by the Ministry of Culture and the Hubei Provincial People's Government to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month) which commemorated Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), a minister in the service of the Chu Emperor. Despairing over corruption at court, Qu threw himself into a river.

The theme of this festival was to carry forward the spirit of the patriotic poet, Qu Yuan. In detail, the festival included five activities: a commemorative evening, a China dragon boat tournament, a patriot songs party, a Chinese Authors Forum themed, "Spirit of Qu Yuan and Modernization of Cities" and the 2012 Hubei Verse Club. Contemporary cultural celebrities, scholars and show-business celebrities attended the festival.

Yichang also provided a Chinese traditional worship performance, specialty foods and folk entertainment activities for tourists.

Edited by Fu Bo and Rakhee