The serenity of Miluo, a small city to the east of Dongting
Lake, a tributary of the Yangtze River, was broken on Wednesday
when the city became the venue of the Dragon Boat Festival.
Seventeen teams from eight countries including the United
States, South Africa, Singapore and Australia competed fiercely for
the championship.
The Dragon Boat Festival, which has been observed over a period
of more than 2,300 years in China, derives from the death of Qu
Yuan, an eminent poet living in Chu State (currently central
China's Hubei and Hunan provinces) during the Warring States (BC
475 - BC 221).
Historical records show that when the disillusioned Qu Yuan
drowned himself in the local river on the fifth day of the fifth
month of the Chinese lunar calendar, local residents raced to the
site in boats to search for him. They made loud noise to scare away
fish and dropped rice dumplings into the water to lure them away
from Qu's body.
Ever since then, people have marked the anniversary of Qu's
death on by racing dragon boats, eating "Zongzi" -- rice dumplings
wrapped in bamboo leaves -- and hanging wormwood around their
homes.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture has recently published a list in
which the Dragon Boat Festival, along with the traditional Spring
Festival and four other festivals, is protected as an item of
cultural heritage.
The Dragon Boat Festival has seen its influence expanding
overseas, says Zhang Jinsong, a member of the council with China
Folkways Society.
"It has become not only an occasion for cherishing the memory of
Poet Qu Yuan, praying for good health and safety, but also a fully
fledged international sport," said Zhang.
To Pher Chi Khing, captain of the men's team from Singapore, the
trip to Miluo is his first to China. "We Singaporeans also observe
the Dragon Boat Festival and we eat Zongzi and hold dragon boat
races too," he said, "But the festival tends to be more commercial
in Singapore compared to China.
On every Dragon Boat Festival, the three sectors representing
the schools, companies and banks of Singapore will organize a
hundred or so teams to race against each other with the purpose of
attracting tourists, says Pher Chi Khing.
Pher Chi Khing's team will move on to compete in the Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region after Wednesday's contest.
Xinhao Chen, a Chinese American who led a 28-member team
consisting of rowers from California, to compete in Wednesday's
race, said Dragon Boat Racing is the perfect embodiment of Chinese
culture.
"Boat racing has also become a good way for people of Chinese
origin residing abroad to seek their ancestral roots and dispel
nostalgia," Chen said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2006)
