Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan – The Complete Guide
What is the Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan?
The Dragon Boat Festival, also called Double Fifth Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of May of the lunar calendar.
Simplified Chinese – 端午节 (duān wǔ jié)
Traditional Chinese – 端午節 (duān wǔ jié)
Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan is one of the most important festivals alongside the likes of Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year.
The dates for the Dragon Boat festivals in Taiwan are as follows:
- In 2020 – June 25th 2020
- In 2021 – June 14th 2021
- In 2022 – June 3rd 2022
Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan – The Story
Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan – Balancing Eggs
Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan – Useful Vocab
Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan – Other Holidays
Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan – FAQ’s


Celebrating Moon Festival in Taiwan – A Complete Guide
What is Moon Festival in Taiwan? Your Ultimate Guide Moon Festival in Taiwan, which is also known as Mid-Autumn Festival, is a public holiday in Taiwan and China. Like other traditional Taiwanese holidays, the date of Moon Festival is on…
The Story behind Dragon Boat Festival
Once upon a time, during the Spring and Autumn time in China, there was a patriotic poet name Qu Yuan, who was from the Chu Kingdom.
The king of Qin Kingdom wanted to frame the king of the Chu Kingdom in the name of intermarriage. Qu Yuan was strongly against this, but King Chu didn’t listen to him.
King Chu was killed by King Qin.
Qu Yuan was devastated when he heard the news, he jumped into the Miluo River with a stone and committed suicide.
Because of the admiration for Chu Yuan, local people row the dragon boat trying to find Qu Yuan’s body and meantime put rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves (粽子zòngzi) into the river to feed the fish to stop the fish eating Qu Yuan’s body.
On May 5th of every year, respects are paid to Qu Yuan. Why? Because this was the day when Qu Yuan committed suicide.
Dragon boat racing (划龍舟 huá lóngzhōu) also became a famous custom because of this.
A small dragon boat can take 15 people, 12 for rowing the boat, 2 for making sounds by gong and drums and 1 for getting the flag.
When the dragon boats race, the first boat to capture the flag is the winner.
Balancing Eggs
There’s a headline you won’t read often!
Believe it or not, if you manage to balance an egg at 12 noon, you will be due good luck for the whole year!
GO on then… go get those eggs!
Dragon Boat Festival Vocabulary
Let’s teach you some useful terms about the Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan here:
- Boat Race – 划船比赛 huáchuán bǐsài
- Celebrate – 庆祝 qìng zhù
- China – 中国 zhōng guó
- Day Off – 休假 xiū jià
- Dragon Boat Festival – 端午节 duānwǔ jié
- Happy Dragon Boat Festival – 祝你端午节快乐 duānwǔ jié kuàilè
- Holiday – 假日jià rì
- Hong Kong – 香港 xiāng gǎng
- Macao – 澳门 ào mén
- Rice Dumplings – 粽子 zòng zi
- Taiwan – 台湾 tái wān
Other Taiwan Holidays
Did you know the official set of holidays for Taiwan? Here they are (for 2021):
- January 1st 2021 – International New Year
- February 11th 2021 to February 16th 2021 – Chinese New Year
- February 28th 2021 & March 1st 2021 – 228 Peace Memorial Day
- April 4th 2021 & April 5th 2021 – Children’s Day and Tomb Sweeping Festival
- June 14th 2021 – Dragon Boat Festival
- September 21st 2021 – Mid Autumn Festival
- October 10th 2021 & October 11th 2021 – National Day
Every festival has it’s own wonderful story, of which you can find out more about on our Taiwan holidays page.

Ghost Month and Zhong Yuan Festival – Taiwan Traditions
Your Complete, Insiders Guide to the Ghost Festival Ghost Month – LTL Taiwan The belief of afterlife and spirits exists universally in different cultures and society’s. The relevant celebrations, festivals or customs therefore came into being. Western Halloween and the Mexican…
Dragon Boat Festival – FAQ’s
When is Dragon Boat Festival?
The fifth day of May of the lunar calendar which means…
In 2020 – June 25th 2020
In 2021 – June 14th 2021
In 2022 – June 3rd 2022
What is Dragon Boat Festival in Chinese?
In traditional Chinese – 端午節 (duān wǔ jié)
What is eaten during Dragon Boat Festival?
Typically a Rice Dunpling called zòng zi 粽子
Do you get a day off for Dragon Boat Festival?
Yes you get 1 day off for Dragon Boat Festival
Want more from LTL?
If you wish to hear more from LTL Mandarin School why not join our mailing list.
We give plenty of handy information on learning Chinese, useful apps to learn the language and everything going on at our LTL schools! Sign up below and become part of our ever growing community!
4 comments
Nice guide, thanks LTL
Thanks Nay 🙂
我愛端午節
端午節快樂