Tourists learn the basics of how dragon boats are raced. More than 40,000 visitors attended the festival last year. provided to China daily

With the nationwide Dragon Boat Festival holiday set for June 16, aficionados consider Xixi National Wetlands Park in Hangzhou an ideal site to watch the time-honored gala.

Traditionally made of teak in various designs and sizes, dragon boats are still used today by teams that continue the competition begun centuries ago.

A dragon boat cultural festival in Xixi, which began at the end May and will continue until June 27, is drawing widespread attention, even from growing numbers of foreign participants.

Among 45 teams competing for the championship this year, 18 are sponsored by foreign companies.

Multicultural participation is expected to further popularize the traditional festival and spur more tourism in Xixi, say organizers.

More than 40,000 locals and tourists from home and abroad watched the event in the wetlands park last year.

Less than 5 km from Hangzhou's landmark West Lake, Xixi is a vast urban wetland covering a 10.64 sq km area, 70 percent of which is streams, ponds, lakes and swamps.

Xixi is the only national wetlands park in the country that integrates urban, agricultural and cultural elements, according to the local tourism administration.

Six main watercourses crisscross the entire park, many with branching streams and fishponds that together form the unique wetland scenery of Xixi.

Its abundant waters have long provided ideal conditions for dragon boat races.

According to historical records, dragon boat customs can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), when the Xixi wetlands were often devastated by summer floods. To ward of the disasters, people began to pray to the Dragon King, a god believed to control waterways, asking him to bless them with fine weather and good harvests.

In the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Hong Zhong, director of the ministry of justice, personally led locals in repairing area's dikes and solving their water problems. The people of Xixi have since raced dragon boats to commemorate the event, competitions that have grown in popularity.

Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was attracted by the lively and grand wetlands celebration, conferring on it the noble title of "Dragon Boat Festival".

Xixi's dragon boats have a distinct style and ornamentation, which together with the worship ceremony, form an important part of the area's folk culture.

From the first day of May on the traditional Chinese calendar, Xixi locals begin invoking the Dragon King and expressing their heartfelt thanks to him. On the day of the festival, they gather in Shentankou village of Xixi for dragon boat races.

The traditional dragon boat race values boating skills over speed. Traditional techniques are so stylized that the event is more public spectacle than race.

Participants are very precise in their patterns of movement and skills used while competing. They also place great emphasis on decorations, which generally give the boats a wooden head and a dragon tail at the stern. Hulls are often festooned with bright-colored flags replicating dragon scales.

The ongoing dragon boat festival is sponsored by the district authorities of West Lake and Yuhang along with the Hangzhou Tourism Commission.