East West | Zheng Chengzhi: Why is China's dragon boat movement popular all over the world? Sports | Dragon Boat | Zheng Chengzhi

Release time:Apr 13, 2024 22:40 PM

China news agency, Yichang, June 21: Why is China's dragon boat movement popular all over the world?

——Interview with Zheng Chengzhi, Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Project "Qu Yuan Legend"

China News Agency reporter Guo Xiaoying

During the Dragon Boat Festival of the same year, dragon boats from all over the world began to emerge one after another.

Why is dragon boat sports still thriving after thousands of years of inheritance? How does it gradually move towards the world? How does dragon boat culture integrate into Western sports culture? Zheng Chengzhi, a provincial-level inheritor of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Project "Qu Yuan Legend" and a specially appointed researcher at Wuhan University, recently accepted an interview with China News Agency's "East West Question" to analyze it.

East West | Zheng Chengzhi: Why is China's dragon boat movement popular all over the world? Sports | Dragon Boat | Zheng Chengzhi

The summary of the interview transcript is as follows:

Zheng Chengzhi from China News Agency: The dragon boat movement is closely related to Qu Yuan. Legend has it that after Qu Yuan threw herself into the river, her sister Qu Yaogu rowed a boat to find her brother and shouted, "My brother is back!" "My brother is back!". Upon learning this, the elderly and fellow villagers rowed boats in search of Qu Yuan. Everyone rushed to form dragon boat racing.

According to Wu Jun, a literary figure from the Southern Liang Dynasty, in his book "Continuation of Qi Xie Ji", "Qu Yuan, a high-ranking official of the Chu Dynasty, was falsely accused and died by throwing himself into the Miluo River on a day. The Chu people mourned him and saved him with boats and boats. The competition for the Dragon Boat Festival was a common custom." Wei Zheng of the Tang Dynasty recorded in his "Geography Annals of the Book of Sui" that "Qu Yuan went to Miluo in May to watch the sun, but the local people chased him to Dongting without seeing him. If the lake was large and the boat was small, and there was no way to help him, he sang," How did he get to cross the lake? "As he fought with drums and oars to return, he competed at the pavilion, which was passed down

Unlike dragon boat races in other places, the Zigui Dragon Boat Race requires a river crossing soul summoning ceremony to commemorate Qu Yuan.

In October 2021, China Dragon Boat Race will be held at Xujiachong Harbor National Dragon Boat Training Base in Zigui County, Hubei Province. The picture shows the ceremony of dragon boat tour. Nie Shuang Photography

Zheng Chengzhi from China News Agency: The Zigui dragon boat racing has strong regional characteristics and has formed a systematic and complete racing customs. The reason why it has been enduring is precisely because it has strong national characteristics and sports charm.

Dragon boat racing in Zigui takes a long time. During the Dragon Boat Festival in May each year, dragon boats are rowed on the fifth day of the lunar calendar, known as the "Head Dragon Boat Festival", and on the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, known as the "Great Dragon Boat Festival"; For those who lose the game but are not satisfied, it is agreed to have another round at the end of the 25th Dragon Boat Festival.

The Zigui Dragon Boat Racing has a complete set of sacrificial rituals, including temple worship, river worship, racing, dragon return, and other procedures, as well as a complete set of gongs, drums, and singing. This is also the biggest feature of Zigui dragon boat racing.

The atmosphere of dragon boat racing in Zigui is strong. As long as conditions permit, Zigui people outside must return to their hometowns to participate in the competition; The summer harvest and summer sowing of farmers have passed, and they are also participating athletes. There are many methods of dragon boat racing in Zigui, including two boat race, tugboat race, three boat race, multi boat race, one-sided river rowing race, round trip race, up and down rowing race, etc.

The Dragon Boat Race, which has been passed down for a long time in Zigui, is not only a beautiful cultural memory for the people, but also a vibrant display of folk entertainment.

At the 2021 China Dragon Boat Race, 12 dragon boat teams from Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan and Hong Kong competed. Nie Shuang Photography

Zheng Chengzhi from China News Agency: Qu Yuan was one of the four world cultural celebrities elected by the World Peace Council in 1953, and his works and spiritual value are part of the cultural heritage of humanity. I believe that the export of dragon boat sports is closely related to the spread of Qu Yuan culture around the world.

Under the influence of ancient Baiyue culture, traditional dragon boat customs have taken root in Southeast Asia and Japan. Modern overseas Chinese became the main force for the spread and promotion of the Chinese dragon boat culture overseas. The dragon boat movement spread to all parts of the world with the migration of overseas Chinese, and was widely promoted as an independent sport, showing an international trend.

In 1984, the former National Sports Commission decided to include dragon boat racing as a sports event and named the National Dragon Boat Championship "Qu Yuan Cup". As the competition enters the right track, the competition system tends to improve, and the scale is also increasing, it is moving towards international competitions.

In September 2009, the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, consisting of the customs of Qu Yuan's hometown in Zigui, Hubei, was included in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Afterwards, the "Dragon Boat Festival in Qu Yuan's Hometown" was held as a national preserved festival event in Yichang for a long time. Based on this festive event, Zigui has held various dragon boat races for many years and traveled to Canada, Hong Kong and other places to participate in competitions or performances, showcasing the charm of Zigui dragon boats to the world and promoting the gradual internationalization of dragon boat sports.

At the 7th World Games in 2005, dragon boat first appeared as a performance event, and the East Asian Games held the same year included dragon boat as an official competition, marking the first time dragon boat sports entered an international comprehensive sports event. Afterwards, dragon boat racing became an official competition event in several international large-scale comprehensive sports events, such as the Asian Beach Games and the Guangzhou Asian Games. Driven by these competitions, the International Dragon Boat Federation has gradually grown, with an increasing number of competitions and strengthened standardization. As of now, more than 90 countries and regions around the world have established official organizations for dragon boat sports, regularly holding dragon boat competitions and related activities.

On August 26, 2018, Indonesia, the women's 500m dragon boat final of the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. ADEK BERRY camera

On April 27, 2007, the International Dragon Boat Federation became an official member of the Federation of International Federations, and dragon boats also had a broader promotion platform worldwide.

In 2021, the dragon boat race will be unveiled as a demonstration project at the Haizhisen Aquatic Arena in Japan, which will become a key step for China's dragon boat racing towards the Olympic Games.

Zheng Chengzhi of China News Agency: The reason why China's dragon boat sport attracts the world's attention is that it has the common characteristics of general sports and has several main characteristics:

Firstly, dragon boat racing has a long history and a wide influence of dragon boat culture. The literary figure Lu You of the Song Dynasty once wrote "Returning to Zhou on the Fifth Day": "The red flag of the boat is full of rapids, and even sleeping at the window of the boat is leisurely watching. When Qu Pingxiang meets the fifth day, it is no better than the perennial cornstarch plate." Zhang Jianfeng of the Tang Dynasty wrote "The Song of Racing": "The sound of the drums three times the red flag opens, and the two dragons jump out of the water... The drums are gradually approaching, and the two dragons look at the mark like an instant... The front boat has won the bid for water, while the back boat loses its position and swings its radius in the air." All vividly describe the breathtaking and spectacular scene of dragon boat competitions.

Secondly, dragon boats showcase patriotism and serve as a carrier for the inheritance and promotion of Chinese culture by Chinese people both domestically and internationally. Mr. Yu Guangzhong, a Taiwanese poet, wrote in his poem "Drifting to Qu Yuan": "Where there is water, there are dragon boats. When there is dragon boat racing, there are people beating drums. You always lead the way in front of the drums... chasing you from upstream to downstream, from the previous Dragon Boat Festival to the next Dragon Boat Festival."

On June 21, 2023, the "Chinese Dragon Boat Festival Poetic Yichang" 2023 Qu Yuan Hometown Dragon Boat Festival was grandly opened in the Qu Yuan Hometown Cultural Tourism Area of Zigui County, Yichang City, Hubei Province. The picture shows the artistic performance dance "Qu Yuan" at the opening ceremony. Photo by Zhang Chang

In 2017, during the Dragon Boat Festival, I was invited to Changhua, Taiwan to participate in the Quyuan Cultural Festival and Dragon Boat Race ceremony, and served as a gift officer. This event received support and welcome from the local people. It can be seen that the common spiritual beliefs and traditional cultural genes rooted in the same bloodline and ancestral roots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are interconnected.

Thirdly, dragon boat sports differ from Western rowing and kayaking in that dragon boats are rowed on one side and equipped with drummers and helmsmen. The unique team design and different technical characteristics make dragon boats present a completely different competition scene and atmosphere from rowing, making them more visually appealing.

Nowadays, dragon boat has established standardized competitive standards, attracting over 50 million dragon boat enthusiasts worldwide to join the sport.

Zheng Chengzhi from China News Agency: For many years, integrating dragon boat sports with cultural resources to achieve a win-win situation in sports, culture, and economy has become a consensus for the development of dragon boat sports in many places. Therefore, upholding integrity and innovation is the only way for the development of dragon boat sports, and only in this way can we broaden the breadth and depth of dragon boat cultural exchanges.

In 2018, I planned the "Second Dragon Rise" Dragon Boat Entering Ceremony in Wangusi Village, Guizhou Town, Zigui County, known as the "First Village of the Qu Family in China". The subsequent spring dragon boat racing attracted social attention and was selected as one of the 100 classic events of the Chinese Farmers Harvest Festival that year. Later on, we added dragon boat tug of war competitions on the basis of straight race and traditional dragon boat performances, which were highly sought after.

On March 4, 2022, in Wangusi Village, Guizhou Town, Zigui County, local villagers carried their dragon heads into the water. Nie Shuang Photography

In recent years, many regions have organized international dragon boat races while accepting foreign invitations to participate in dragon boat performances and competitions. Going out and inviting in, participating in and hosting various dragon boat competitions has become the main way for dragon boat sports to engage in dialogue with the world. The 2023 International Rowing Federation Dragon Boat World Cup will be held in Zigui from June 20th to 23rd this year. Dragon boat teams from 12 countries and regions will compete, exchange ideas, and exchange ideas in Qu Yuan's hometown.

With the spread of dragon boat symbols worldwide, dragon boat sports have become one of the carriers for China to showcase its cultural heritage to the world.

Interviewee profile:

Zheng Chengzhi is a provincial-level inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project "Qu Yuan Legend", a specially appointed researcher and off campus supervisor at Wuhan University, a teaching supervisor at the university level of China University of Geosciences, and an excellent theoretical lecturer at the provincial level in Hubei. I have hosted the Dragon Boat Festival and Dragon Boat Race to worship Qu Yuan, a cultural heritage site of human beings. I have also traveled to Beijing, Chongqing, and Changhua, Taiwan to plan and host the Dragon Boat Festival ceremony. I have long served as a guest in the program "Legend of China Festival - Dragon Boat Festival" on CCTV International, and have also served as a live broadcast guest for various media outlets such as People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, and China News Agency, interpreting the customs of Dragon Boat Festival. He has published several works, including "The Legend of Zigui Scenery", "The Customs of Zigui in the Three Gorges", and "The Return of Soul -62 Questions about Qu Yuan".

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