Dragon Boat Festival celebrations heat up

A woman shows two scented sachets, or xiangnang, she just bought at the folk art exhibition in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. Wearing xiangnang, often stuffed with scented herbs, is one of the traditional customs for Dragon Boat Festival. It is believed that the scented bags can ward off odor-bred bugs and diseases. [Photo by Wang Jiankang/Asianewsphoto]

A woman surnamed Xu buys special shoes for children for the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, in Linqing city of Liaocheng, Shandong province, on June 6, 2013. Images of five poisonous animals -- toad, centipede, scorpion, snake, and gecko -- are sewn onto the shoes, and therefore the shoes are called "Five-poison Shoes". The custom of children wearing the shoes to ward off devils and diseases prevails in the North. [Photo by Zhang Zhenxiang/Asianewsphoto]