The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday that usually falls in late May or June. During this festival, “Zongzi”, which is a traditional Chinese rice dish made of sticky rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves, is prepared and cooked by steaming or boiling.

On June 2, to celebrate this year’s Dragon Boat Festival at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), the Center for Language Education (CLE) of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and SUSTech Global organized a themed event, entitled “Pack Rice Dumplings (Zongzi) and Learn Chinese”. A group of international faculty members and students participated in this event and celebrated the festival together.

Prof. Yuehong CHEN, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, attended the event and delivered a speech. He familiarized the international faculty members and students with three keywords closely related to Dragon Boat Festival, the beauty of the Chinese language, Quyuan, and Chinese culture. He also encouraged them to understand the spirit and culture of the festival and experience the charm of the Chinese language through participating in “Zongzi” packing, which is regarded as one of the most important customs of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Dr. Hao CHEN, Executive Deputy Director of SUSTech Global, pointed out that SUSTech is a place where cultural diversity is respected. It is important to promote exchanges among people of different countries based on respect for cultural diversity.

Dr. Yuan LI, Director of the CLE, welcomed the international faculty members and students, and encouraged them to actively integrate themselves into the SUSTech community. On behalf of the CLE, she expressed their commitment to developing various language learning programs and activities to enhance the understanding of the culture embedded in languages.  

This Dragon Boat Festival themed event also served as the ending session of the CLE Staff Chinese course for the 2022 Spring Semester. The course instructor, Dr. Wenhui ZHU, designed the situated learning activities, which were well received by the participants.

In an active learning environment, the international faculty members and students learned about the origin and history of the Dragon Boat Festival and the Chinese language associated with it. As a highlight of the event, all participants packed their own “Zongzi” under the guidance of the invited SUSTech chef.

At this special themed event, SUSTech’s international faculty members and students celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival, learned Chinese in a real-world context, and experienced traditional Chinese festival culture.