Dragon Boat Festive Jimei District – Water, Wind and Warmth on a Saturday Afternoon
The heat of summer had not descended to wilt the crowd. Light breezes fluttered the pennants with their scissored fringes, water bounced warm light into the air as the sense of anticipation grew. It was the dragon boat competition, Saturday afternoon located in the campus of xxxx university. I had not planned to watch as I am not enthusiastic about Chinese crowds. Crowds with their sheer number of people, the shove, push, maneuver tactics herding you in directions you did not anticipate are has undefined air of imprisonment and loss of control. I have a personal management issue with Chinese crowds. The mentality of push, push and run the grandmother over to get to your destination. Yet here I was and thoroughly enjoying the timeless nature of a Saturday afternoon with families, grandmothers, bouncy bubbling students and street vendors. It was perfect.
I was traveling as a guide with an Australian delegation. My delegation had sighted the green silk flags streaming in the air and we had found a carpark easily enough. A walk past tourist style street stalls was interesting. It was not tourist junk. The stalls were clearly targeting the domestic tourism market with copious displays of dried Chinese foodstuffs such as mushrooms, shredded meat, fish and other unidentifiable food groups. The children s’ clothing stalls with the sunshine bright red aprons, cross over tunics and gaily embroidered jackets appealed to the mother in me. The beloved single child had a choice of toys, trinkets and child sized packets of pens and stationary to hover over. The sides of the stalls were clean swept, no rubbish littered the sides, the stones and pavement were clear of spit and debris. It was a picture of domestic China that could stand the closest scrutiny and not found lacking.
The universal nature of families enjoying time together was palpable. It resounded in the air through the excited chitter, chatter of the children, the whispers of the couples and the casual talk of friends moving towards the entertainment. Curved roofs to repel demon spirits, scrolled whirled architectural features, vivid blues, greens, reds and yellow identified the time and place as China. The sound of the Fujian opera competed with the sounds of the people to provide a backdrop to the momentum of people to the lakeside venue.
The lake is a salt water inlet controlled by flood gates. The lanes were defined by markers and the officials were already zip zapping with the importance of their role as custodians of law and order. It is a culture where law and order can fluff the feathers of importance into the style and shape of a peacock. It is amusing to observe and not so good to be the focus of such displays of importance. One of the boat crews had not backed into the starter position correctly. Game time on. The particular official, jumped up and with sweeping arm gestures and a loud hailer indicated a movement to the left of about 15cm. The crowd laughed and joked at the expense of boat crew struggling to tussle with their dragon boat which seemed to want to move forward not backwards. The crowd just watched intently as official, crew and law and order engaged in the time honoured Chinese tradition of saving face and compliance. All was complied with great humour.
The boats were standard colours, shape and the dragon head gracefully decked the front rowers. The drummers were intense in their focus and the crews were competitive. Surging boats moved forward to the beat of Chinese drum coordination. You could sense the security of tradition in the atmosphere competing with the smell of frying noodles from the nearby road stall. It was intense competition Taiwan National University against Xiamen University trying to beat Shanghai Normal University teams. The powerful coordinated strokes were mesmerizing. The cut and thrust through the water and the continual beat of the drum. Wonderful to watch sport in such a venue.
On the way back to our vehicle I commented to the Australian delegation about the universal nature of a crowd with the families and the sense of human nature. The quiet comment in return said it all, “Yes, I was thinking of my wife and daughter and how they would have loved this’ That summed up the impulsive stop. A perfect Saturday at the Dragon Boat Festive, Jimei Dragon Boat Pool.
