Yes, that's right. There were no Dragon Boat races to photograph, or even Dragon Boats. Not that my friend and I could find anyway. No one we talked to (Chinese or otherwise,) knew of anything going on, despite it being a national holiday. We tried going to the largest park in the city, which also has the largest lake, but no luck. It was probably for the best anyway, as it rained all day. We went to a nearby museum instead, about the relations between Fujian province and Taiwan. It's a good museum, if you can appreciate it apart from its obvious propaganda function.
I have no excuse for not having pictures of the museum. I just forgot to charge my camera. Whoops!
I can offer you a picture of a zongzi though, a food traditionally eaten on the Dragon Boat Festival. Zongzi are bamboo leaves filled with sticky rice and other fillings. In Quanzhou, they're a bit fishy tasting, and not particularly to my liking, but in general they're quite good.
The origins of the Dragon Boat Festival involve a poet who was accused of treason, so he committed suicide by throwing himself into the river. The local people paddled Dragon Boats to save him/collect his body (stories vary,) and also threw in zongzi so that the fish would eat those instead of him.
I guess it's understandable that people don't get too worked up over the holiday. My mom tells me that Concord, NC has a Dragon Boat race in August, so maybe I can share some photos/actual Dragon Boat experiences then. I think this might be an example of situational irony.
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