On May 12, the preliminaries of the Haizhu Wetland Dragon Boat Race 2024 were held in Guangzhou Haizhu National Wetland Park, as a prelude to the 6th Haizhu Wetland Dragon Boat Festival Celebrations.
For people in Guangdong, the Dragon boat race is not only a prescribed event during the Dragon Boat Festival but also a way to pray for a good harvest, strengthen clan ties, and develop neighborliness and friendship with fellow villagers, as well as ward off evil spirits and disasters.
This year, the Haizhu Wetland Dragon Boat Race has seen its lineup upgrade and expand in scale. The preliminaries on May 12 had not only attracted 36 dragon boat teams from Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, and other cities but also the champion team of the 2023 Guangzhou International Dragon Boat Invitational Tournament.
Dragon boat teams in race
Amidst the rapid tempo of drumbeats, 36 dragon boat teams paddled upstream and strove to be the first to cross the finish line. After fierce competition, 12 teams stood out and qualified to enter the Haizhu Wetland Dragon Boat Race Open 2024, which will be held as part of the 6th Haizhu Wetland Dragon Boat Festival Celebrations on June 8-10.
Apart from the Dragon boat race, Guangzhou Haizhu National Wetland Park will launch a series of celebrations during the Dragon Boat Festival. Among them, a dragon boat drifting performance will amaze the audience with a series of superb boating skills derived from the narrow river curves in Diejiao (叠滘), Foshan. It is expected that activities, including the ceremony of visiting relatives on dragon boats, the dragon boat banquet, and the dragon boat rowing courses, will attract more than a thousand people to participate. In addition, a Han-style creative market will be set up for visitors to purchase dragon-boat-themed creative products and make DIY sticky rice dumplings (Zongzi).
DIY sticky rice dumplings (Zongzi)
Reporter | Chen Siyuan
Editor | Nan, James
Photo provided to GDToday
