Dragon Boat Races to Kick off in Daoxian County

2024-05-24

The China Dragon Boat Open (Daoxian County Stop) and the Daoxian County 2024 Dragon Boat Festival National Intangible Cultural Heritage Dragon Boat Race will be held in Daoxian County, Yongzhou, between June 1 and 4.

The dragon boats will compete in the Daoxian county town section of the Xiaoshui River.

The China Dragon Boat Open will include the events of 22-rower men's 100m, 200m and 500m straight races, and a 3000m circular race; and 12-rower women's 100m, 200m and 500m straight races. A total of 1,200 dragon boat racers from around the country will participate.

The Daoxian County National Intangible Cultural Heritage Dragon Boat Race will include more than 200 boats and 6,000 competitors from 12 towns, townships, and districts across the county. A series of folk culture activities will be launched, including a dragon eye dotting ceremony, a parade of 100 dragon boats, and elections of the "best rower", the "best coxswain", the "king of drums", and the "king of gongs".

Daoxian, formerly known as Daozhou in ancient times, has a 1000-year-old dragon boat tradition dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). It has been shortlisted for the 5th batch of the national intangible cultural heritage items.

The dragon boat events this year will preserve and improve the boat-racing traditions, and will also incorporate other tradition-focused activities, including "a hundred schools of traditional medicine", "a hundred kinds of food stalls", "passion for a hundred types of zongzi"(steamed-rice treats)", and "a hundred photographic portraits". Moreover, six featured travel routes will be selectively promoted, including a "respectful tour of revolutionary site"s, a "tour exploring origins of civilization", a "tour of self-cultivation and enlightenment", a "tour of mysteries and secrets", a "stone-carving study tour", and a "leisurely ancient villages tour". Tourists may enjoy Daoxian's magnificent landscapes and distinctive folk customs through these routes.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: Rednet