Zongzi in high demand as Taiwan celebrates Dragon Boat Festival

Zongzi, sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, have been on hot sale as people in China's Taiwan region are celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival with the traditional delicacy.

Taipei's iconic Nanmen Market, with a history of over a century, has been bustling with zongzi shoppers since the days leading up to the festival.

"We come here to buy zongzi every year ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival. My mother loves their zongzi, so I'm here to buy some for her," said a shopper from Hsinchu City.

The market offers a wide variety of zongzi, catering to 20 or 30 different flavors, such as the local southern Taiwan zongzi, northern Taiwan zongzi, and the most famous one -- Huzhou-style zongzi.

Originated from east China's Zhejiang Province, Huzhou-style zongzi is distinguished by its elongated, pillow-like shape and fillings such as pork or red bean.

A store at the market has been selling Huzhou-style zongzi for nearly 60 years. Having been passed down for four generations, the time-honored store still retains the authentic flavor.

"Just a while ago, a youngster from Huzhou told us that they call it Jiaxing-style zongzi in his hometown. They are the same. The only difference is they use pork belly, while we use pork collar," said Ms. Jiang, owner of the store.

The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, commemorates renowned Chinese patriotic poet Qu Yuan, who was also a minister of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475 B.C.-221 B.C.). Celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the festival falls on May 31 this year.

The U.S. dollar softened in late trading on Monday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, dropped 0.03 percent to 98.496 at 15:00 (1900 GMT).

In late New York trading, the euro strengthened to 1.1720 dollars from 1.1713 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.3534 dollars from 1.3521 dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 159.45 Japanese yen, higher than 159.44 Japanese yen in the previous session. The U.S. dollar was up to 0.7856 Swiss francs from 0.7855 Swiss francs, and it declined to 1.3627 Canadian dollars from 1.3673 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar dropped to 9.2247 Swedish Kronor from 9.2304 Swedish Kronor.