Dragon Boat Racing, or Sai Longzhou as it is also known, is the main part of Chinese traditional aquatic sports. Dragon Boat Racing in China is both a competition and a custom which is popular among people, and in modern society it has spread to the whole world as an important sport event.

Many ethnic groups in the southern China and Han People have continued the custom of the Dragon Boat Race for the Dragon Boat Festival. The Zhuang, Miao, Dai, Bai, and Tujia people decorate the boats to resemble a dragon and shout their support with drums and gongs. Craftsmen exercise their skills to the full with their carving and painting to decorate

each boat.Similar to outrigger canoe racing but unlike competitive rowing and canoe racing, dragon boating has a rich fabric of ancient ceremonial, ritualistic and religious traditions. In other words, the modern competitive aspect is but one small part of this complex of water craftsmanship.

How does Dragon Boat Racing come into being?
Contemporary folk tradition commonly attributes dragon boating racing's origins to the saving of a drowning folk hero in the 4th century BCE, Qu Yuan. He was a loyal minister serving the King of Chu during the Warring States Period. Initially his sovereign favored Qu Yuan, but over time, his wisdom and erudite ways antagonized other court officials. As a result Qu Yuan was accused of trumped-up charges of conspiracy and was rejected by his sovereign.

In the year 278 BCE, at the age of 37, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Milo River.

He clasped a heavy stone to his chest and leaped into the water. Knowing that Qu Yuan was a righteous man, the people of Chu rushed to the river to try to save him. The people desperately searched the waters in their boats looking for Qu Yuan but were unsuccessful in their attempt to rescue him. Every year the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated to commemorate this attempt at rescuing Qu Yuan.

A version of the story holds that when it was known that Qu Yuan had been lost to the river, local fisherman dreamt that the fish in the river were eating Qu Yuan's body. The local people developed the idea that if the fish in the river were not hungry, then they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. People thus began throwing zongzi into the river to feed the fish in hope that Qu Yuan's body would be spared.

Yet another version of the story states that Qu Yuan ate the zongzi and rose to the heavens due to the white rice being so light that the more he ate the faster he rose, which lead to him joining the great god Buddha in the clouds.