Participants compete in dragon boat races before Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon boats gather on a river in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, June 2, 2011. It is an agelong tradition for the Chinese people to run dragon boat races during the holidays of the Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu in Chinese, to pay homage to legendary poet and patriot Qu Yuan of Chu State living during China's Warring States Period (475 B.C.- 221 B.C.), who drowned himself to protest his fatuous king. [Photo/Xinhua]

Dragon boats gather on a river in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, June 2, 2011. It is an agelong tradition for the Chinese people to run dragon boat races during the holidays of the Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu in Chinese, to pay homage to legendary poet and patriot Qu Yuan of Chu State living during China's Warring States Period (475 B.C.- 221 B.C.), who drowned himself to protest his fatuous king. [Photo/Xinhua]