On June 29, the Tianhe "Tongzhou Cup" Dragon Boat Exhibition Race took place in Liede Subdistrict, Guangzhou. Taking this opportunity, GDToday hosted a series of events titled "GDToday Salon: A Celebration of Dragon Boat Friendship" by the Liede River, bringing international friends together to celebrate traditional dragon boat culture in one of the most modern areas in Guangzhou.
The events started with watching the dragon boat race. Upon arrival, the invited guests of GDToday could not wait to immerse themselves in the crowds gathering along the river just to catch a glimpse of the passion and speed of the dragon boat racing.
Two teams in competition at the Tianhe "Tongzhou Cup" Dragon Boat Exhibition Race (Photo: Wiingheng)
As drum beats and noises filled the air, everyone at the site was captivated by the festive atmosphere. Richard, an American dragon boat racer from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao-Taiwan Joint Team, found the enthusiasm of the crowd truly exhilarating and believed that Guangdong might be the only place where he could experience such a thrilling dragon boat race.
After the dragon boat race, the invited guests paid a visit to GDToday's exhibition of cultural products. There, they had the opportunity to see how some of Guangdong's iconic cultural symbols, such as lion dance and dragon boat, were incorporated into modern merchandise designs.
Cultural products displayed in GDToday's exhibition (Photo: Chen Ziqian)
Some of the invited guests standing before GDToday's exhibition (Photo: Chen Siyuan)
The final stroke of dragon boat culture came after nightfall. After the excitement and heat of the afternoon, the international friends of GDToday came to the ancestral hall of Liede and joined a dragon boat feast where hundreds of people gathered to celebrate their friendship.
Xu Xu Jun Jie, a Chilean student from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, said he had never joined a dragon boat feast before. However, he had already come to realize that the feast was not only a place for people to showcase interpersonal harmony but also an important traditional cultural event to be preserved.
The dragon boat feast at the ancestral hall of Liede (Photo: Bubble)
Reporter | Chen Siyuan, Nick
Editor | Nick, James
Photo | Wiingheng, Chen Ziqian, Chen Siyuan, Bubble
