Dragon Boat Racing

Dragon Boat Racing

Nominating Unit: City of Guangzhou

Official and folk dragon boat races have already been popular in the Ming and the Qing Dynasties. A famous scholar in the Qing Dynasty, named Qu Dajun described the hilarious scenery of the dragon boat races held every year in the Pearl River Delta that Dragon boat races were held in May or June of the lunar calendar, during which the organizer awarded the winners with grand prizes. After that the winners would invite relatives and friends for a meal. The meal is called “Dragon Boat meal” by people in the Pearl River Delta. The activities concerning dragon boats have been basically preserved since the Ming and the Qing Dynasties (except for some special period), only with some changes in time and places. Before the 1930s, dragon boats were dug out on April 8th of the lunar calendar. Just as the saying goes: “Dragon boats sail in the sea on April 8th of the lunar calendar.” Later, it was switched to May 1st of the lunar calendar when the boats were dug out. In 1994, the Guangzhou Municipal Government officially named the Dragon Boat Festival. At present, the traditional dragon boat races are mainly held Tianhe District, Liwan District, Haizhu District, Panyu District and Zecheng City of Guangzhou.(https://www.daowen.com)

In Guangzhou, every household give rice wine to the boaters when the dragon boats go out for procession. Before that, they must have seniors drawing eyes on the boats. In the evening, the villagers make a big pot of “Dragon Boat rice,” providing to anyone, in order to know more people and get more good luck granted by the Dragon. After the dragon boat meal, two men will be chosen for carrying the head and tail of the dragon boat. The two men will process along to the riverside in the music of gongs and drums and the worshipping will be held and praying for good climate and peace will be done. After that, the head and the tail of dragon are installed on the boat, which is called “Wang Long”. When the race is finished, the head will be placed in the Dragon King Temple and the hull will be buried in sand and mud in the riverbed, waiting to be dug out the next year.

There are two forms of Dragon Boat Race, namely “Chenjing” and “Doubiao”. The form of Chenjing is a kind of performance given by dragon boats from different places, in which boats only perform for showing skills, not for any ranking. From May 1st to May 20th, there is one Jing performed everyday which is held alternately in different townships. The rituals of Chenjing include: Qilong (digging the boat out), worshipping of gods, Caiqing, rowing, having Longchuna meal and Rudou. The most renowned Jing of dragon boats in The Pearl River Delta is Xintangjing in Zengcheng City of Guangzhou, which attracts a lot of dragon boats for performances or races from nearby townships and cities. The event has been successfully passed down so far. The form of Doubiao is actually the dragon boat racing, which is held after Chenjing. The standards and rules of the race is complex, in which all the boats are gathered at one place for the racing. Before rowing, people invite the gods in the temple to the dragon boat, which is called “Qingshen (inviting gods)”. Moreover, Shendou and the palace of Beidi should be placed on dragon boats. According to a survey by Shang Chengzuo in his early years, there’re mainly three gods in Guangdong Province people’s shrines, the first one is Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy), the second one is Beidi(God of Waters), the third one is Tianhou(Goddess of the Sea). The worship of dragon is thoroughly embodied in the rituals of Guangzhou Dragon Boat Festival, in which Beidi plays an important role. This is one of the unique characters of the Dragon Boat Festival in the Pearl River Delta.

At present, Guangzhou Dragon boat racing activities are facing the following problems: firstly, the villages which retain the traditional customs are just doing a series of rituals step by step, without knowing the connotation of them; secondly, in the past boaters are mostly young and middle aged adults, while in recent years the boaters are facing the problem of aging; lastly, the environment needed for dragon boat racing has been deteriorating. Therefore, it is urgent to take practical measures to protect this dragon boat racing a ctivity.