Enjoy Chinese culture at Yuyuan Garden

It is Dragon Boat Festival this Friday — and a better time for locals and foreigners alike to learn more about Chinese culture and tradition.
Yuyuan Garden Malls launched a Dragon Boat Festival celebration over the weekend to promote traditional art and skills as well as the city's nightlife.
Visitors from home and abroad are invited to learn to make or taste zongzi, the traditional glutinous rice dumpling, and sachets to ward off evil spirits at the malls during the annual celebration to run through Thursday.
Several small workshops have been set up at the central plaza and other spots across the malls where traditional handicraft masters are performing and teaching palm fiber weaving, Suzhou embroidery, calligraphy and how to make sachets to celebrate the festival.
The weeklong celebration also includes traditional performances. Dancers dressed in hanfu, the traditional clothing of the majority Han people, perform ancient festive celebrations and dances every night.
This year's celebration incorporates fashion elements with traditional cultures to promote the events among young visitors, according to Yuyuan Inc, owner of the malls.
Rap singers, for instance, will perform along classic dancers and traditional instruments.
"We were attracted to the traditional music and costume after we entered the malls,"said Igor Tcherezov, a second-year student with ITMO University from St Petersburg in Russia.
"The traditional events, such as touhu (arrow-throwing) game, are attractive to us tourists."
Marlene Richards and her husband Mike from Australia were also attracted to the celebration at the malls on Friday night. "We enjoy everything here, from the architecture to the festive atmosphere and friendly locals," she said.
A number of listed heritage skills from both Shanghai and neighboring cities are being showcased in the workshops at the malls during the event.
Sun Wenting, 26, a master of the 2,000-year-old Suzhou embroidery from Jiangsu Province, showcases delicate embroidery on round fans at one of the workshops. A lot of visitors came to watch the heritage skills and talked with her.
"The malls around Yuyuan Garden with a large number of visitors from both home and abroad are the ideal site to promote the traditional skills," Sun said. She studied the national listed heritage skill from her mother and dedicated herself to its promotion after graduating from university.
"Most inheritors are middle-aged but traditional embroidery is greatly affected by online shopping trends, so I decided to use my skills and knowledge to help promote my hometown's traditional culture," she said.
Ma Qun, another master of the palm fiber weaving, a listed heritage skill of suburban Baoshan District in Shanghai, said his major purpose was to encourage visitors, especially children, to learn the traditional skills which are easy to acquire.
"The weaving skill originated in the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), but few people are willing to learn the skills nowadays," Ma said. "The traditional celebration at the malls provides a good opportunity to promote the ancient skills."
Ma, 67, who inherited the skills from his father and grandfather, now spends most of his time teaching the weaving skills at local communities and elementary schools. Many foreign children have become his apprentices, Ma said.
The festive celebration, mainly being held at night, is part of the city's efforts to revive its nightlife and turn the city into an international shopping destination.
The Yuyuan Garden Malls — dining and shopping facilities near the historic Yuyuan Garden, originated from a prosperous market of the City God Temple some 140 years ago — plan to host a series of such festivals by the year's end.