Paintings depicting the Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Race by Li Zhaodao, from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). [file photo]

The word “dragon boat (Long Zhou)” appeared for the first time in Annals of Emperor Mu. A paragraph in Jingchu Chronicle reads, “On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month…people always have dragon boat races and gather medicinal herbs.” There are many such historical records. Emperors in the Tang, Song, Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties all liked to watch dragon boat races.

Since the Tang and Song dynasties, people have held grand celebrations during the Dragon Boat Festival which have been recorded by calligraphers and painters. For example, Dragon Boat Race, kept in the Palace Museum, shows how people celebrated the festival in the palace. The dragon boats in the painting are vivid and elegant.

Special coverage: Your guide to the Dragon Boat Festival