The Dragon Boat Festival

Duanwu is marked across the country, but the boats belong to the south, where crews of twenty or more sit in a hull barely wider than their shoulders, a drummer beating time at the bow and a steersman working a long sweep at the stern. The races are short and violent and over in a couple of minutes. The day is tied to the poet Qu Yuan, said to have drowned in the Miluo, with the rice thrown to keep fish from his body remembered in zongzi: glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves and steamed, savoury with pork belly and salted egg yolk in the south, sweet with dates in the north. Mugwort is hung at doorways.

What you actually see

• The boats - long narrow hulls, a drummer at the bow, a steersman on a sweep oar behind.
• Zongzi - rice steamed in leaves, savoury in the south and sweet in the north.
• Village races - local crews on the Miluo and the delta creeks, fought harder than city heats.
• Mugwort at the door - bundles hung on frames and gateposts for the season.

When to go

The date moves with the lunar calendar and falls in late May or June. Races are usually run in the morning before the worst of the heat, with heats spread over several hours. It is a public holiday, so trains and river banks are both full; arrive early for a spot with shade and carry water.

Honest expectations

You wait a long time for races that last two minutes, often in serious heat and humidity, on packed banks with restricted views. Big city events are ticketed and set back from the water. Zongzi is heavy going and the leaves are wrapping, not food. Holiday transport is booked out well in advance.

Nearby

The Miluo river lies north of Changsha, and delta races run through Guangzhou and Foshan.