This weekend we went to check out the annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in Flushing NY. The festival is significant in China, celebrated by a day of narrow boat races shaped like dragons. Competing teams row their boats in sync with a furious rhythm pounded out by on-board drummers. The dragon-boat races symbolize the frantic attempts to rescue Qu Yuan.
Qu Yuan is said to have committed suicide by drowning himself in a river. Qu Yuan was a minister in the kingdom of Chu situated in present-day Hunan and Hubei provinces during the Warring States period (475 – 221 BC). He was upright, loyal and highly esteemed for his wise counsel that had brought peace and prosperity to the kingdom.
Many of the teams are locally sponsored and seem to celebrate the day with music food, drink, crafts, games (quite a few gambling tents) and the rest of the locals hanging out around the river for the day. It hazy and humid but not too hot. The event was quite expansive in the park but was not as populous as I thought it might have been; quite possibly because there was so much land. I enjoyed both the Chinese (noodles, dumplings, satay) and non-Chinese food (corn and shaved ice).
On the way back, I noticed many volunteers canvasing the crowd for Obama “working for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community”. I can already tell if there’s this much initiative to hit all cultural backgrounds and events like this, then Obama is throwing the net out to all corners and will have a huge turn out in November next year.
Some pics from the event:
