Dragon boat races resume in Hong Kong after a year's absence

Dragon boat races took place in Hong Kong's Sai Kung again in 2021 after being cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19.

Dragon boat races took place in Hong Kong's Sai Kung again in 2021 after being cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19.

The dragon boats can be seen racing in a show of strength in this drone footage filmed on June 14.

According to the tradition, the Dragon Boat festival is meant to remember the death of Qu Yuan.

Qu Yuan was an outstanding patriotic poet as well as a politician in the late Warring States Period.

After witnessing the collapse of his country, Chu State, he was unwilling to give himself up to other countries.

Therefore, he committed suicide by drowning in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

Hearing the news, people sailed boats to salvage his body.

To protect his corpse from fish, people also threw Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) to feed the creatures in the water.

In other traditions, the race also celebrates the arrival of Summer (masculine yang also featured as a dragon) and the departure of the feminine yin, traditionally associated with winter and spring.