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The Chinese Dragon Boat

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Beijing is one city in China with the reputation of being one that never sleeps.  This is true when it comes to festivals, as each month some significant event or person is being celebrated.  Next month, June 2009 it is the Dragon Boat Festival.  This is an exciting event for anyone wishing to venture out of their room at one of the many five star Beijing hotels.  This event celebrates the famous Chinese scholar and poet, Qu Yuan. He lived during the years of 340 BC and 278 BC.  He is the first poet known to be given credit for his work, as before the authors of poetry and literature were never identified.  He created his own verse style, known as Sao.  He lengthened his poems and created more rhythmic verses and a wider range for expression.  He is regarded as one of the most significant figures in Chinese Romanticism and literature and his work continues to influence writers in China to this day.  He committed suicide by wading into a lake and holding on to a large rock.  He did this in protest of the corruption he was seeing in the government at that time.

The Dragon Boat Festival celebrates Qu Yuan’s artistic spirit and genius, and his involvement in politics.  This festival occurs on the fifth of June, as according to the Chinese Calender, this would be the fifth day of the fifth month.  It is sometimes referred to as the Double Five Festival.  Symbolic acknowledgements are made in reference to Qu’s drowning such as throwing packets of rice wrapped in leaves into the waters of the ponds and lakes.  Many wear talismans and charms to ward off the spirits that strike those with summer disease during this time of the year.  The residents hang photos in doorways, drink wine, and give their children small pouches that carry fragrant incense to protect themselves from the evil.

One of the more celebratory events of the festival are the boat races themselves.  Many travel to Beijing from the neighboring cities to witness these exciting races.  The boats are large canoes and are brightly decorated and painted, and of course, have the heads of dragons at the front of the boat, with the stern being shaped as the tail.  Boats are usually forty to one hundred feet long and sometimes require up to eighty rowers.  Each boat has their drummer to help inspire them as well as to give them the rhythm necessary for keeping time with each other.  Dragon Boats are sacred, as are the rituals surrounding the races.  These races occur throughout Asia, in Taiwan, and Hong Kong as well as in cities where Chinese Immigrants have relocated.

Related posts:

1. Every Boat Needs Accessories
2. Festivals on Mauritius
3. The theatre, the theatre

Tags: Beijing, Boat, Chinese, Dragon, hotle, Yuan

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