According to the press conference for 2016 Dragon Boat Cultural Festival in Quyuan’s  Hometown, six theme celebration activities will be held in Yichang during the festive period (from June 8th to June 11th ) so that  both the local citizens and visitors from home and abroad can feast on the world-influential classic cultural event at the national level with Yichang’s characteristics.

The opening ceremony and the Dragon Boat sacrifice will be held in Zigui County, Quyuan’s hometown, in the morning of June 8th. In order to reproduce the magnificent scene of ancient Chu sacrifice, Chu’s unique music, etiquette, costume, ritual, etc.will be fully introduced. Then the serial Poetic Yichang activities, with the theme of Dragon Boat Festival for China, poetry slam in Yichang, are to be staged such as the poetry slam with the theme “Chinese Sentiment – To the Distance”, and a Poetic Yichang poetry recital to be participated by 10000 people from all walks of life, including famous Chinese poets, recitation artists and performing artists and performers from the city government offices, schools, neighbourhood and the countryside. People will come togather to enjoy the charm of poetry and cherish the memory of Quyuan.

A series of dragon boat races in Three Georges will be respectively held in Xujiachong Harbour, Zigui County, in Chaotianhou Scenic Area, Xingshan County, in Qingjiang Park, Yidu City and in Longquan Town, Yiling District. There will be dragon boat tug of war, straight racing and water sports show. In addition, the first dragon boat rafting contest in China will be launched along with various challenge competitions between visitors from home and abroad. All such activities are aimed at establishing for Yichang a brand of China Dragon Boat City.

There will be a custom experience activity named I spend the Dragon Boat Festival at the hometown of Quyuan. To be specific, a Dragon Boat Festival culture park will be built in Fenghuangshan Scenic Spot, Zigui County, where the ancient folk houses are located. In the park, there will be food shops, healthcare center, embroidery exhibition hall, Dragon Boat Festival literature and art museum and an intangible cultural heritage museum, etc.. In addition to a photo and text exhibition of Chinese Dragon Boat Festival costom, a traditional Dragon Boat Festival custom display will be performed by its inheritors from the hometown of the great poet. And the representatives of both Quyuan’s descendents and poets in Taiwan will be invited to spend the festival in Zigui County for related cultural exchanges.

The fifth activity is related cultural exchange between Korea and Yichang. Namely, Yichang’s tourism image and the Dragon Boat Festival culture of the hometown of Quyuan will be publicized in Korea through Korea major travel agencies and new media. And at the same time, the heads of those agencies and major tourism media will be invited to visit Yichang. And Korean tourists will be arranged to experience the Dragon Boat Festival culture at the hometown of Quyuan and visit the picturesque mountains and rivers of Yichang so as to promote Sino-Korean folk cultural exchanges.

The sixth activity is a cuisine meeting at which a series of Dragon Boat Festival dishes or food will be exhibited by those major hotels and restaurants in Yichang meanwhile a characteristic snack street featuring Yichang snacks can be formed in order to produce and advertise those snacks.  (Reporter: Huang Chunmei)