The history and evolution of the Dragon Boat Festival

The legend

In 278 BC in the ancient Kingdom of Chu during the time of the Warring States, Qu Yuan, a poet and government minister, committed suicide by drowning in the Miluo River, in protest of the prevalent corruption among officials

The “dragons”

Like any team sport, dragon boat racing benefits from athletes with different skills. The crew is assigned places in the boat according to their individual strengths and aptitudes

The boat

Standard equipment used in Hong Kong races includes a hull usually made from teak, with a dragon’s head and tail made of camphor wood. The development of dragon boat-making is distinguished by the type of wood used for the main body of the boat:

1. Phase 1 (before 1911): Ge wood imported from Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam
2. Phase 2 (from 1911-the end of 1990s): pine wood imported from the US
3. Phase 3 (since 2000): cedar wood from Guizhou province, China

The positions

Paddlers in the front are good at keeping time. Out-of-sync blades hit the water a fraction of a second behind each other to create lag. The back paddlers focus more on power strokes to maintain speed in the faster water