The earliest recorded dragon boat in ancient literature is 3 18-296 BC, which is equivalent to Mu Chuan in the middle of the Warring States Period. About the origin of dragon boat race, the most popular legend is the altar legend in memory of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of Chu State. In 278 BC, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet, was framed by a villain because his political views were not adopted. He swallowed his hatred in Luojiang and committed suicide with tears. The Chu people pitied them and set sail in succession to rescue them on the river. There are more and more such sayings in the future, which is the most influential among all kinds of legends. With the passage of history, the dragon boat race has gradually evolved from a folk custom to a professional competitive activity with official colors, forming a disciplined, standardized and orderly dragon boat culture, which has spread to many countries and regions in the world and occupied a place in the vast world sports grand view garden. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Guangdong held a large-scale folk dragon boat race. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, official and folk dragon boat races in Guangdong were more common. After liberation, dragon boat races have been held regularly or irregularly throughout the province every year, and the level has been continuously improved. Dragon boat has unique ornamental value. And the appreciation of dragon boat is still a science! Dragon boats are divided into "full-time dragon boats" and "amateur dragon boats". "Full-time Dragon Boat" is only used for crossing, not for other purposes. "Amateur Dragon Boat" was temporarily refitted from a production boat, and it was restored to a production boat after use. Full-time dragon boats are divided into special dragon boats, simple dragon boats, Youlong, modeling dragon boats and so on. All kinds of dragon boats have basically the same structure: the hull includes paddle tips or paddles, taps, dragon tails, various decorations and gongs and drums. Most faucets are carved from whole wood. Whether it is a full-time dragon boat or an amateur dragon boat, the dragon head is placed at the bow before the game. Faucets come in various shapes, depending on local customs. The cock in Xijiang River system and the big-headed dog in Dongjiang River system in Guangzhou have their own characteristics. Most of the faucets are dyed red, which is called "Red Dragon". Some are painted black or gray, called "black dragon" or "gray dragon". The dragon's tail is mostly carved with whole wood and covered with scales. The most complicated decoration on the ship is represented by the dragon boat with chicken head in Shunde. Among them, there is a sacred building with a big drum and a gong. Dragon boat is decorated with dragon head, dragon tail flag, handsome flag and umbrella. The size of the dragon boat is divided according to the number of people: 3 people, 5 people, 10 people are small dragon boats, which are about 1.5 to 2 feet long; Dragon boats have 20 to 50 people and are 5 to 7 feet long; More than 60 to 100 people are big dragon boats, with a length of 9 feet to 10 feet; There are more than 200 extra-large dragon boats. The small dragon boat has only a radial hand and a helmsman, while the middle dragon boat has a drummer and a gong hand. The dragon boat is equipped with two drummers and two gongs. In the Pearl River Delta region, the riverbed is relatively wide and people's living standards are relatively rich, so dragon boats are relatively large, with more than 60 people, and there are many people with more than 100 people. Splashed waves, flying dragon flags, flying dragon boats, deafening gongs and drums, and shouts, together with the happy people on both sides of the strait, constitute the genre painting of dragon boat crossing in China, which is full of nostalgia. Dragon boat crossing, the origin is doomed.
Four or five thousand years ago, an interesting traditional folk sports activity in China produced various dragon boat customs in the long years of development.
Jiangxi and other places have the custom of dry dragon boat. Dragon boats are made of bamboo and wood, and the audience is like a cloud. "Records of Qiongzhou County" says: "People in the city wear bamboo as boats, decorated with five-color paper, and sing drums along the street for competitions, which is called dry boats." "Huizhou Fuzhi" contains: "On May 5, the ship encountered an epidemic, and bamboo did it; In the painting, it looks like a cockroach, and twelve people are gods, traveling around the cities. " According to Jiangxi Tongzhi, in Jinxi City, "on May 5th every year, dragon boats are built in the city, people put stories on them, and hundreds of people ride on land". "Nanchang County Records" contains: "On May 5th, it was a dragon boat, which attracted dozens of people to smash it, spread flowers and beat drums, and filled the thoroughfare. Scholars and women gave money to pray for the disaster." Shexian Annals also recorded the local custom of dragon boat drought. Wutongqiao in Sichuan Province and Wujin County in Zhejiang Province held dragon boat races in the evening. The dragon boat is decorated with colorful lights, some are colored lights like longan, and some are piles of flames floating on the water. Dragon boats gallop in pairs, brightly lit, reflected on the water, particularly moving, like Youlong racing on the water. Cruise ferry is more common. There have been rowing competitions since the Han Dynasty. In ancient times, the Dragon Boat Festival held an entertaining dragon boat race around the West Lake in Hangzhou. According to Dream of Animals, the government held a boat race in the West Lake, in which six dragon boats played in the lake. The boat is decorated with "Seven Sages" and "Erlang God", and the rowers wear "big flowers", "rolled hats" and "red and green play shirts", just like acting. These dragon boats also compete for speed and win the championship at the finish line. The dragon boat scenery popular in some areas of our province is also called "borrowing scenery". Every year from May 1 day to May 20th, all towns and villages are invited to "meet the scenery" with dragon boats in designated waters. It is called "taking advantage" because it does not compete for ranking, but only performs skills. It is held in turn in various towns and villages, once a day. Some villages attach great importance to the "dragon boat scenery" and are as lively as a grand festival. When a woman married to a foreign village sees her parents' dragon boat, she and her husband and children will greet her with firecrackers and biscuits and paddle a boat.