Behold, the Dragon Boat
To the editor:
It’s Dragon Boat time in Guangzhou! These boats are similar to our canoes but much longer and with many more people. The parade I witnessed was on the river near Zhu Jiang Park in central Guangzhou.
Contributed photo
BOAT PARADE — From a bridge spanning the Pearl River in Guangzhou, China, Presque Isle native Orpheus Allison captured a bird’s eye view of the popular Dragon Boat Parade.
By ten in the morning, the boats are entering the competition area. Because of their length they can only go forward or backward. To change direction the boat stops and all the paddlers stand up and reverse their positions. Each boat has drums, gongs and banners. The gong masters are also the fireworks experts. Firecrackers are put into a basket lit and then held out over the water. Boom and bang follow.
The stern man watches for objects in the water and the flags help to signal the rowers at the other end of the boat. Some boats have almost 60 rowers. The tail and head of the dragon are raised when the boat is not “attacking.”
Because the boats are so long they can be used to make waves. Part of the competition involves dancing the boat. The bow and stern men bounce on their platforms to make the boats go up and down. This creates waves and can sink a rival boat. Most of the time it just makes for a lot of rough water.
Orpheus Allison
Guangzhou, China
orpheusallison@mac.com
