The Dragon Boat Themed Event: “Pack Zongzi and Learn Chinese” was held on the campus on June 2. It was co-hosted by the Center for Language Education of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and SUSTech Global. A group of international faculty and students participated in this event and celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival together.

Prof. CHEN Yuehong, the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, attended the event and delivered a speech. He introduced the three keywords closely related to Dragon Boat Festival: the beauty of the Chinese language, Quyuan, and Chinese culture to the international colleagues and students. He also encouraged them to understand the spirit and culture of the Dragon Boat 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. CHEN Hao, the 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. LI Yuan, the Director of the Center for Language Education, welcomed the international faculty and students and encouraged them to actively integrate into the SUSTech community. On behalf of the Center for Language Education, she expressed the CLE’s 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 special ending session of the CLE Staff Chinese course in the 2022 Spring Semester. The course instructor, Dr. ZHU Wenhui, designed the situated learning activities, which were well received by the participants. In an active learning environment, the international faculty and students learned about the origin and history of the Dragon Boat Festival and learned the Chinese language associated to 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 and students celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival, learned Chinese in a real-world context, and experienced traditional Chinese festival culture.