By Hasan Muhammad

Editor's Note: The writer is a freelance columnist on international affairs based in Karachi, Pakistan. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of China Economic Net.

China's long, unbroken civilizational memory is not merely a matter of dynasties, philosophy, or porcelain. It breathes in its festivals - time-tested, people-bound rituals that persist even as the country pivots into its place as a global power. And few events embody this cultural continuity better than the Dragon Boat Festival, which once again stirred paddles and passions last weekend across China and beyond.

On the surface, the Dragon Boat Festival - or Duanwu Jie - is a festival of sport and food, of color and motion. But embedded within it is a tale of loyalty, injustice, and patriotic sacrifice - a narrative that, in China's telling, connects the ancient past to the geopolitical present. Far from being a parochial ritual tucked into the folds of a fast-modernizing society; the Dragon Boat Festival has assumed the role of cultural ambassador. In 2009, UNESCO recognized it as part of the world's intangible cultural heritage. And while its origin is deeply Chinese, the festival's celebration now spans continents - from East Asia to Europe, and even to the Indian subcontinent.

Since 2008, the festival has been a public holiday, and its profile has only risen with China’s cultivation of soft power. While dragon boat racing is now a globally competitive sport - having even appeared as a demonstration event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics - it is also, crucially, a vehicle for shaping how China is seen by the world: not just as an economic juggernaut, but as a civilization with roots, rhythms, and rituals that can command admiration.

Last year's 4th International Dragon Boat Federation World Cup, held at Miluo River in Hunan Province, was emblematic of this marriage of tradition and modern spectacle. And this year, in places like Suzhou, international teams made up of rowers from across the globe have embraced the festival - not as outsiders, but as participants immersed in the pulse of Chinese culture. For these athletes, the challenge of mastering coordination on the water is more than sport; it is initiation into a shared heritage.

The cultural weight of the festival is matched only by its economic impact. During last year’s holiday, the Chinese made over 110 million domestic trips, spending 40.35 billion yuan (approximately $5.57 billion), according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. This year, projections are even higher: 657 million cross-regional trips are expected between May 31 and June 2. Railway travel alone will exceed 47 million trips, and over 600 million road journeys will be logged. Beijing alone hosted more than 2.6 million visitors on the first day of the holiday - including 21,000 inbound tourists who collectively spent more than $32 million, thanks in part to new tax refund policies aimed at boosting inbound tourism.

For many Chinese families, the festival is an occasion for escape - from the urban grind, from stifling summer heat, or simply into the serenity of nature. Domestic tourism has become both a middle-class ritual and a key economic engine, as seen in the rush to cooler destinations and family-friendly attractions.

For China, often caricatured in foreign media as rigid or inscrutable, the Dragon Boat festival calendar offers a different lens. Here is a society that dances, eats, rows, and remembers - one that folds history into holiday, and makes memory a matter of national pride. The Dragon Boat Festival, in this context, is not merely a cultural artifact. It is an assertion: that China’s is not only trying to preserve its heritage but also projecting it as a dynamic instrument of soft power on the global stage.