Public & Statutory Holiday - Tuen Ng Festival Tuen Ng, the Dragon Boat Festival, occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month and commemorates the attempt to rescue the patriotic poet Chu Yuan, who drowned on that day in 277 B.C. Unable to save him, the people threw bamboo stuffed with cooked rice into the water so that the fish would eat the rice rather than the body of their hero. To commemorate this, people eat tzungtzu, rice dumplings filled with ham or bean paste and wrapped in bamboo leaves. The boat races on this day attract large crowds. The boats are large canoes, usually highly decorated.