Today's Dragon Boat Festival is packed with Chinese cultural celebrations, old and new. The favorite food of many is "Zongzi". CGTN's Jenny Cortes Ybañez shows us how this traditional rice dumpling is made in southern China's Guangdong Province.

The rising sun on this holiday morning meant a special day of fun for several communities in Guangdong Province. They're gathering together to make a "boat load" of the pyramid-shaped, bamboo-wrapped glutinous rice dumplings known as "Zongzi".

SUN LILI, EVENT ORGANIZER FOSHAN "Before, families used to make Zongzi at home. So we decided to start holding a large- scale Zongzi- making activity all in one place. And this year it's the biggest yet, with over 500 people from all communities in Daliang in attendance."

Approximately 20 members from each community in the city of Foshan were pre-selected to take part in this annual event. This family-friendly gathering more than marked a cultural occasion. Some even brought younger family members for a richly acculturation and traditional experience.

LI JINHUAN FOSHAN "I am here with my nephew. I want to teach him how to make Zongzi. I think it would be a very meaningful activity for him. We are very happy to be here."

LU WEIGUO FOSHAN "I am here with a group of volunteers from my community. Most of us are retirees. We enjoy the festival atmosphere here. And we are also glad to help people who are in need in our community."

There are many tales as to how and why this Zongzi-eating tradition began. The most popular account is closely related to one of the greatest patriots and poets in Chinese history, 'Qu Yuan'. As the story goes, locals were trying to race to get to him after he chose to drown himself in a river. So they threw Zongzi in the water so that the fish would eat the food instead of Qu Yuan's bodily remains.

At this event alone they made well over 3,000 Zongzi. And afterwards all the rice dumplings were distributed to the less fortunate families and the elderly in the surrounding neighbourhoods. So they too can have a joyous and tummy-filled Dragon Boat Festival celebration. JCY, CGTN, Foshan, Guangdong Province.