The art of wrapping zongzi

1. Get some reed leaves about two palms long and three to four fingers wide.

2. Soak them in water and clean them with a soft brush. They will serve as the wrappers for the zongzi.

3. Soak glutinous rice in cold water for several hours. When the rice becomes fat, you are ready to start wrapping.

4. Take two or three bamboo leaves and overlap the edges to form a funnel.

5. Put glutinous rice inside, bend the leaf ends back to cover the funnel top and firmly wrap it up in the shape of a pyramid.

6. Secure with a string.

About the festival

Legend has it that the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the life and death of Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), a great poet.

He lived during the Warring States Period (476-221 BC) before the unification of China in the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC.

Qu tried unsuccessfully to warn the emperor against the expansionism of the Qin Kingdom. When the Qin took Yingdu, Chu Kingdom's capital, in 278 BC, Qu's grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Milou River.

Villagers used boats to try to save him but failed. Today's dragon boat races commemorate the rescue attempt while according to legend, rice dumplings were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the poet's body.