On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year, the Chinese people eat zongzi, hold the dragon boat race, drink realgar wine, carry sachets and bags for perfume, hang calamus leaves on the door, and pick various kinds of grasses and herbal medicines.

The dragon-boat race is the largest festive activity during the festival. Legend has it that after Qu Yuan’s death, people of the state of Chu went out in their boats, trying to rescue the patriotic poet or drive away fish in the river, because they were afraid Qu Yuan’s corpse would be eaten by fish. Thereafter people would row dragon boats to commemorate Qu Yuan on this day every year, which is the origin of the dragon boat race. Now a number of cities in the Yangtze River valley hold international dragon boat races on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year.

Zongzi, a food peculiar to the Dragon Boat Festival, differs widely in taste and shape. In the shape, some are triangle; some are in the shape of pyramid; and the others look like pagodas and columns. In taste, zongzi made in north China is sweet, and that in south China has sweet, salty, meat and vegetable stuffing. Huzhou in Zhejiang Province is famous for pork and sweetened bean paste zongz; Sichuan, for spiced salt bean zongzi ; and Guangdong, for Zhongshan zongzi wrapped with reed leaves.