Celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival in Paris

The Dragon Boat Festival is one of the most important festivals in Chinese culture. It commemorates the famous poet and court official Qu Yuan, who lived around 300 BC. According to historical records, Qu committed suicide in a river to protest against corruption, the fall of his country following an invasion by a rival state and the misery of his countrymen. To try to save him and keep fish from eating his body, villagers raced out in boats and threw rice in the water. The tradition of dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings during the fifth day of the fifth lunar month eventually evolved from that. But in Paris, Taiwanese people gave the celebration a new twist this June. They chartered boats and had dinner on the River Seine.