Duan Wu Festival

Duan Wu Festival is also known as Dragon Boat Festival. The festival occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar on which the Chinese calendar is based. This is the source of the alternative name of Double Fifth. The focus of the celebration includes eating the rice dumpling zongzi, drinking realgae wine and racing dragon boats.

Jia zong - Instead of glutinous rice, mochi-like balls of glutinous rice flour are used to "contain" the filling of the zong.

Jian Shui zong - The glutinous rice is treated with lye water. It typically contain either no filling or are filled with a sweet mixture such as sweet bean paste.

Nyonya zong - This zong are made in similar style with similar fillings as Southern zong and wrapped with pandan leaves.

The best known traditional story holds that the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan of the ancient state of Chu. When the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu Yuan was banished for opposing the alliance. 28 years later, Qin conquered the capital of Chu. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.
It is said that the local people, who admired him, threw lumps of rice into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. This is said to be the origin of zongzi. The local people were also said to have paddled out on boats, either to scare the fish away or to retrieve his body. This is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing.

Dragon boat is a human-powered boat traditionally made of teak wood to various designs and sizes.The pulsation of the drum beats produced by the drummer may be considered the "heartbeat" of the dragon boat.

The drummer leads the paddlers throughout a race using the rhythmic drum beat to indicate the frequency and synchronicity of all the paddlers' strokes.The paddlers sit facing forwards and use a specific type of paddle which is not rigged to the racing watercraft in any way. The steersman controls the dragon boat with a sweep oar rigged at the rear of the boat.

enjoy the video here--Dragon Boat Racing