Lions and Dragons Compete Fiercely at Taiwan’s Dragon Boat Race

TAOYUAN COUNTY, Taiwan—The annual Dragon Boat Race was held in Longtan Pond (Dragon Pond) in the township of Longtan on June 15 and 16, and attracted more than 10,000 visitors this year.

Located in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan County, Longtan has been holding the event to celebrate the annual Dragon Boat Festival for almost 100 years.

The festivities also included the unique water lion-king competition in which contestants perform various highly technical lion dances on 21 water stakes of different height.

The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, originated in China and is steeped in Chinese traditional culture. It is a traditional holiday commemorating the death of the poet Qu Yuan (340 BC – 278 BC) who drowned himself because he was distraught by politics. Local people beat drums and flailed the water to protect his spirit and to prevent the fish from eating his body. And it turned into a sport.

The festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the traditional Chinese calendar. It is a holiday in Taiwan and mainland China, as well as in Hong Kong and Macau. The festival is also celebrated in countries with significant Chinese populations, such as in Singapore, Malaysia, and Korea.

Another tradition during the dragon boat festival includes eating zongzi, a pyramid-shaped rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves.

Dragon boat racing is the largest sport in Asia, and it's also the second biggest sport in the world after soccer.

Read the original Chinese article .