Festival event makes a splash From B1
Print Edition
LASTLY, the event also featured various Chinese sports and media personalities participating in the races as well.
Beside the main events, there were a number of various cultural activities and exhibitions.
As the second Saturday of June marks the Chinese Cultural Heritage Day, which is part of the Heritage Week in Shanghai, there was a cultural exhibition concurrently held at Mengqing Gardens, alongside the Dragon Boat Open.
The Shanghai Folk Art Exhibition of Intangible Cultural Heritages featured displays such as fabric paintings; Chinese knots — symbols for unity, happiness and luck; egg decorating; Jiading bamboo carving and straw patchworks.
Dragon boat races also have a symbolic meaning to them as well. The festival has its roots dating back about 2500 years ago. It commemorates Qu Yuan (340–278 BC), a poet who was also a Chinese court official in the ancient state of Chu.
Legend has it that Qu was banished by the king who opposed his suggestions to reform the state.
A despondent Qu tied himself to a rock and drowned himself in the Miluo River after receiving news that his beloved homeland had been invaded.
The people, upon learning of his suicide, rushed out to the river in boats and beat drums and disturbed the water with paddles in order to ward off fishes and evil spirits from Qu’s body. The actions of the Chu citizens became the forerunners of the cultural tradition that is dragon boat racing today.
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