Quake survivors enjoy Dragon Boat Festival
Updated: 2008-06-08 22:01
CHENGDU -- In a blue tent in quake-hit Mianzhu city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Huang Ping and his family are enjoying zongzi sent from thousands of kilometers away.
The pyramid-shaped rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves are usually eaten on the Dragon Boat Festival, the first national holiday after the May 12 earthquake.
"This is the most delicious zongzi I have ever had," Huang says.
More than 28,000 zongzi have been delivered from across the country to Mianzhu, said local officials. More are coming as people from Chengdu, Sichuan provincial capital, bring zongzi on the festival.
Chinese people can have one day off on the Dragon Boat Festival this year and a three-day break including the weekend, providing an opportunity to do volunteer work in the quake-hit zone.
In Mianzhu, volunteers have set up a "Love School" and organized a ping-pong match for more than 30 children. Two newcomers have brought textbooks from Shenzhen, a city in southern Guangdong Province.
Teachers and students from Beijing Normal University have erected a tent on the playground of Muyu Middle School where 286 students died in the earthquake. They have been helping children in Qingchuan County to recover their confidence.
"The psychological treatment has reduced their stress, but a lot of health problems still exist," said a volunteer.
Chen Lei, a travel club member in southeast China's Fujian Province, decided to donate money saved for travel to quake relief.
"I planned to travel in Zhejiang Province, but changed my mind after a friend called on club members to help during the holiday," Chen said.
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