Participants fish for zongzi (rice dumplings wrapped in leaves) at a Dragon Boat Festival themed activity. [Photo/gdzjdaily.com.cn]

A series of thematic activities was held on June 23 in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province to mark the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival and promote traditional Chinese culture.

The activities included storytelling sessions about historical events, traditional food and handicrafts making, as well as folklore works appreciation.

Through these cultural activities, residents not only learned how to make zongzi and colorful bracelets, as well as learned about different festival customs across the country, but also discussed the patriotism of Qu Yuan, one of the greatest poets of ancient China, and deepened their understanding of traditional festivals.

Dragon Boat Festival is also known as a day to clean your home, repel harmful creatures, as well as keep healthy and safe since ancient times. To solicit larger scale public participation for its health campaign, activities like interactive games about garbage classification have also been launched in Zhanjiang.