*Dragon Boat Making Technique

99.*Dragon Boat Making Technique

Nominating Unit: City of Dongguan

Zhongtang Town in City of Dongguan, located in the Pearl River Delta, has a long history of dragon boat racing tradition. The racing is a grand event and Zhongtang was named “the Hometown of Dragon Boat in China”. The local dragon boat making thrived on the dragon boat racing which started from the years of Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, with a history of more than 200 years. Today there are altogether 8 dragon boat factories distributing in Doulang Village, Mali Village and Dongxiang Village. The annual output of dragon boat reaches nearly one hundred which tops the province. The making technique is mainly inherited by the Huo Family in Doulang Village. Ever since the early 1990s, there are three generations of successors.

Zhongtang Dragon Boat making can be divided into two types: Big Head Dragon Boat and Rooster Head Dragon Boat, among which Big Head Dragon Boat is the most representative. The major structure of the Big Head Dragon Boat consists of 5 parts: dragon head, dragon tail, dragon bone, dragon intestine and cover board (kan ban). There are 15 steps in the production process: selecting bottom bone (dragon boat), Qi Di(nailing and fixing butterfly-like boards), Qi Shui(arching the bottom bone into streamlined), Da Shui Ping(fixing the mid-line and balancing the butterfly-like boards), Zhuan shui (installing water break), making Da Pang(fixing the two sides of boat, also called Ding Hua Pang), making Heng Dang(dragon ribs), making Zuo Ban(the seats where oarsmen sit), fixing dragon intestine, strengthening mid intestine(strengthening the seats on the dragon intestine with bamboo chips, also called Zhua Mie), smearing the mixture of Tung Oil and lime(filling the gaps between the boards so as to avoid the water leaking), polishing, varnishing(painting grapefruit oil to make boat face smooth), making and installing dragon head, installing tail vane. The whole process takes 6-7 days. The early dragon boats adopted Erythrophleum fordii (Ge Mu) which unpleasantly led to the heavy weight of the boat and great resistance in boat sailing. Then the pine wood was used before the fire wood became the material in the past ten years. The fir wood wins for its light weight, shallow draft and fast boat speed. Since the bottom bone is the main bone of the dragon boat, one must select big vertical fir wood and the trees selected should be no more than 2. Besides the main part, a complete dragon boat also needs paddles, dragon stern, dragon boat drum, double gongs, dragon sticks and dragon flag.(https://www.daowen.com)

Zhongtang Big Head Dragon Boat has three specifications: large, medium and small. With a length of 28.5 meters, large boat can carry 56 people in 28 rows. The total capacity is 60 people, including Tiao Tou(the person who competes in landing and seizes the championship), Luo Gu Shou (the people who play the Drums and Gongs), Shao Gong(the person who guides the direction of the boat). Its shape is featured with narrow and long boat body, tilting boat head and tail, graceful and smooth outline. The huge dragon head is especially magnificent. Therefore, it is called Big Head Dragon Boat. Zhongtang Dragon Boat Making Technique is fine and unique. Its unique and highly symbolic products are deeply favored by the folk of the Pearl River Delta and even the Xi River and Bei River regions. It was enlisted in the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

Due to the change of the aesthetic orientation of the young generation, few young people are interested in inheriting the dragon boat making technique. Zhongtang Dragon Boat Making Technique is faced with the plight of talent scarcity in recent years. There is an urgent need to support and protect Zhongtang dragon boat making technique.