Dragon Boat Festival dazzles New Yorkers

The 23rd annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival kicked off on Saturday at Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows Park in New York.

The two-day event featured dragon boat racing between 180 teams from across the northeast and Canada with about 2,400 participants.

After training for months, the participants came ready for the race. With the spectacle of colorful vessels, the competition is not only stiff, but also a dazzling display for people watching from land.

Kate Mao, who started and paddled for the Con Edison Electric Dragons 14 years ago, said her team had 18 paddlers, a drummer and a steersman. Their boat featured a dragon head at the prow and a dragon tail at the stern.

With so many paddlers in a boat, keeping strokes in sync becomes the most important trick to winning, and that requires practice and teamwork to get it right, she said.

Mao said she thinks what is behind the racing is more important.

"It's all about the involvement of your community," said Mao. "The festival brings both businesses and neighbors together. We all have a good time every year, and we meet new people, and build good relationships."

Con Edison Electric Dragons sponsored a youth team from Hunter College this year. Mao said she likes the idea of getting people close.

On land, visitors are able to cheer on their favorite teams as well as enjoy multicultural entertainment and take part in crafts programs.

In the arts and crafts tents, there were 15 artists demonstrating traditional Chinese crafts such as rice doll making, kite making and ribbon flowers.

Huang Zhenhua, a 36 year-old Chinese New Yorker, brought her 6-year-old son to the festival this year. Huang said there were not many water sports in New York City, both of them enjoyed the festival a lot.

"It's become our family tradition to watch the festival since he was 2 years old," said Huang. "I appreciated the opportunity to learn about Chinese heritage, and I hope he can join one of the dragon boat teams when he grows up."

Dragon boat racing is a tradition that dates back to 277 BC, when patriotic Chinese poet Qu Yuan committed suicide by tying a rock to himself and jumping in a river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The Chinese boat race is to try and get to him in time to save him and people throw bamboo leaves filled with rice into the water to keep the fish from eating his body. The beating drums and splashing paddles are also meant to keep the fish away.

The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York is an annual sporting and multicultural event held in August on Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York to celebrate the fifth month of the lunar calendar.