The Dragon Boat Festival is filled with excitement because crowds eagerly anticipate the arrival of brightly painted adn decorated boats for the annual dragon boat race. Boats from 10 to 15 miles around selected lake and riverside resorts enter the annual summer taces that take place throughout South China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The long slender boats create an unforgettable spectacle, darting throught the water with team participants paddling in unison, drums and gongs setting a push-pull rhythm for the rowers, and flags adn banners rippling in the wind.

The canoe-shaped wooden boats are huge, ranging anywhere in size from 40 to 100 feet in length. They resemble dragons, with a fiery open-mouthed head at the bow and a scaly tial at the stern. The boats are powered by as many as 80 rowers, depending on the length of the vessel. The boats were identified with different clans or guilds. Each boat had its own guardian deity, special banners, and different uniforms designed to coordinate with the color scheme paitned on the dragon head, scales and tail of each group's dragon boat. The leader would use the drum to lead the team rowers how to row the boat. In the dragon boat race, who got the flag in the middle of river or lake, who got the award. Today, Dragon Boat Race is an international event and has attracted a lot of people to join this big event.