International Competition Underway Ahead of Dragon Boat Festival

TaiwanPlus News

Ahead of Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday, hundreds of teams are taking part in a rowing event in Taipei.

Transcript

00:00Here at one of Taipei's scenic riverside parks, an important centuries-old tradition is underway.

00:06The dragon boat races going on behind me are just part of the festivities that are going

00:10on all across Taiwan ahead of tomorrow's Dragon Boat Festival, an important holiday

00:14not just here in Taiwan, but in a lot of countries across Asia.

00:23The festival commemorates the life of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet and politician who, legend

00:28has it, drowned himself in a river during China's warring states period thousands of

00:32years ago, when his state was surrendered to its rivals.

00:36There are several explanations of what came next, but one is that after his death, villagers

00:40paddled along the river to try to find his body and threw rice dumplings into the water

00:44to prevent fish from eating him, which, some say, is where dragon boat racing comes from.

00:50Today, the sport involves teams of paddlers in narrow boats racing various distances, and

00:55the drummer helping to keep them on pace.

00:58Happening here is an international event, with over 200 teams taking part.

01:03The races will take place all day Friday, and will continue throughout the weekend, with

01:07finals set for Sunday.

01:13Some teams here are organized by businesses or universities, others are formal dragon boat

01:18racing clubs.

01:20This team is made up of employees of a company that sells kitchen appliances.

01:24They've been coming to race here for four years, and their general manager says, dragon boat

01:28racing is good for team building.

01:29Others have come for the same reason, saying it's a good way for people to come together.

01:36This team was last year's winner in the small boat division, and have confidence that they will

01:41do well this year, too.

01:43This team came from Okinawa.

01:44This team came from Okinawa.

01:45close to a US military base.

01:46Many of its members are part of the U.S. military base.

01:47Many of its members are part of the U.S. military base.

01:48Many of its members are part of the U.S. military, Navy, or are

01:54contractors.

01:55We have a dragon boat team in Okinawa, Japan, and we race locally there.

01:59So when we heard about the big international race here, we wanted to travel and travel and

02:06go to the U.S. military base.

02:09And it's not just Taiwanese here.

02:11This team came from Okinawa, close to a U.S. military base.

02:15Many of its members are part of the U.S. military, Navy, or are contractors.

02:19We have a dragon boat team in Okinawa, Japan, and we race locally there a lot.

02:24So when we heard about the big international race here, we wanted to travel and see how it works here.

02:31Because we are in Japan, it's a little bit different.

02:34It's Sabani's wooden boats.

02:36So the boats here are very different than what we're used to paddling in.

02:40Those who have come out to watch the races say they just want to take in the competitiveness and fun of it all.

02:45Because my son said he wanted to watch the races.

02:49He said he went to the kindergarten and said,

02:52Hey, if you have a chance, you can watch the races.

02:56Right?

02:57Actually, I would come every year.

02:59I was a player, but I didn't have the races.

03:03I didn't have the races.

03:04I wanted to help my team.

03:06I'm excited.

03:07I just wanted to compete with me.

03:10The Dragon Boat Festival is also something of an unofficial start to Taiwan's summer.

03:14months.

03:15And with a lot of people off work today and good weather, events like these are drawing big and enthusiastic crowds.

03:21Lee Sin Chen and Cadence Caranta for Taiwan Plus.

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