Published : 2024-06-10
Those who have seen the Japanese comics "Initial D" will surely be impressed by its high-speed drifting skill. However, drifting is not exclusive to racing cars.
The dragon boat in Diejiao Town, Foshan, has such an incredible skill for nearly 500 years. It could make the dragon boat not only "drift" on the water but also stop sharply and return. These skills, even today, are truly amazing. Do you know how they work?
Diejiao Town: A famous water village in Guangdong
The Pearl River Delta (PRD) region is densely populated with river networks, and in the Nanhai District of Foshan, many villages are built along the waterfront.
In Diejiao Village in the Nanhai District, the water network in the village is extensive, with streams and creeks that used to be 35 kilometres long and are now more than 20 kilometres long.
According to the historical records, the ancestors of Diejiao built a great reclamation of waterway project, in that building 9 rivers or canals into the town for irrigation purpose.
Such project is regarded as "9 dragons (rivers) running in a cave (town)" (九龍入洞). Some bridges were built over the rivers to increase accessibility, leading the town to become more prosperous.
Today, Diejiao Town still maintains the characteristics of a water town, and many narrow and winding river channels are still there.
Many sharp turns in the rivers create a natural training ground
Due to the narrow and winding in nature, there are many "S" turns, "L" turns, and "C" turns in the rivers. Years of "trainings" have trained up a lot of skilled rowers and showcased their wonderful drifting skills every year during the Dragon Boat Festival.
Outstanding dragon boat drifting technique
The dragon boats in Diejiao Town are nearly 25 meters long, typically carrying 48 people on it. In a river with an average width of 6 meters and the narrowest part only be 3 meters, it is not easy to manage turns at high speed, any mistake could capsize the boat.
When rowing though a small bridge, all teammates need to bend down while maintaining speed. It could be dangerous if any member hits the head on the bridge.
After long training, the dragon boats were able to navigate through the narrow curves with high speed, causing them to float on the water surface for a second, creating a unique dragon boat "drifting" effect, which often dazzled the audience in the audience.
How to do with the "sharp turn"?
What is truly breathtaking stunt is "the sharp stop and turn"! It happens when the dragon boats need to turn around at the end of the narrow river and return to the starting point along the same route to complete the race.
How to do it? It requires a sudden stop and paddle back at full speed.
To achieve it, the teammates must seize the opportunity to plunge the dragon paddles into the riverbed to stabilize the dragon boat, turn around, pull out the dragon paddles from the riverbed, and paddle back. All actions must be done at the same time without any delay.
A 500-year Intangible Heritage
According to the records of the Foshan Archives and Local Chronicles, the special dragon boat race of Diejiao Town rose during the Ming Dynasty, flourished in the Qing Dynasty, and has a history of more than 500 years.
There is a Foshan's slang called "Paddle Dragon Boat in Diejiao - An opportunity seized". It symbolizes an new opportunity will happen when successfully undergoing the sharp turns in the race.
By 2017, Diejiao Dragon Boat Race was listed as the sixth batch of city-level intangible cultural heritage in Foshan.
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