When Boston Becomes Chinese

Post written by Lucille, a United Planet team member.

端午節欢迎你! (Welcome to the Dragon Boat Festival)

Last Sunday, the banks of the Charles River in Boston were transformed into a Chinese village, complete with dragon boats, traditional dancers and musicians. Today, I want to allow all of you, who unfortunately were not there, to travel to China with a description of Sunday’s events!

The Dragon Boat Festival celebrates the memory of Qu Yuan, a folk hero, poet and politician, who lived some 2300 years ago during the Zhou Dynasty. He was exiled for opposing an alliance between the state of Chu, where he lived, and the state of Qin. When the Qin conquered the Chu capital, it came to light that perhaps Yuan was right to be reluctant about the alliance. In desperation, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself. The local people are said to have paddled their boats to find Qu Yuan’s body and to scare the fish away so that they wouldn’t eat him. To honor the legend of Yuan’s death, the Chinese hold an annual day of boat races.

This weekend marked Boston’s 30th year celebrating the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival. The main festival attractions are the races, which include the Hong Kong Cup, the Club competition, the women’s race, the breast cancer survivor race and the youth race.

The dragon boats are a sight to see, with over 20 paddlers moving the boat along in unison. They resemble very long canoes and are powered by a crew of paddlers, one drummer or coxswain, and one sweep or tiller. I was particularly impressed by the team who won the women’s race. The average age of the team was 72 and the oldest woman in the boat was more than 90 years old!

The most widespread activities during this festival are the boat races, but many performers, craftsmen and food vendors were also present to celebrate the festival. I noticed a lot of people preparing and eating zhonzi (粽子), or rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves.

In the arts and crafts section, there were calligraphy tables where visitors could have their names written in Chinese characters. Children could also cut and color paper dragon boats. The children were so proud to do those little things and to show them to their parents! And it was so nice to see all these children, Chinese or not, absolutely fascinated by all the Chinese activities offered during this festival!

The dance and music performances really complemented the boat races. A lot of Chinese songs are related to water, and the traditional musical instruments, such as the Chinese flute, piano and violin, are very good at imitating and evoking the sound of water. When I closed my eyes, I could recall images of the Chinese water villages of Tongli or Zhouzhuang, where I spent some time last summer. The performers were very good, and having the shows presented both in English and Chinese allowed me to escape to China during one afternoon!