Please note: This article is as of 2018!
Text and photos by Henning Wiekhorst
Vibrant Races in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is not only very dense populated, it is also densely “Dragon Boated”!!!
Well, people who know me, know that I should know! – Haven’t I been living in Hong Kong for almost thirteen years ? – And still, when recently setting up the Race-Calendar on Dragon Boat Net website with 50 dragon boat events taking place in a territory with a land area of only 1.104 square kilometers, I remembered all the nice people racing the Dragons – with all the action, the passion and especially the Fishermen’s spirit! All these intense memories didn’t leave me a choice other than writing about it again.
If you are living in Hong Kong you actually have no choice, you will come across some Dragon Boating and so it happened to me during my time in the city.
When I wrote my book, I gave it the title “Hong Kong – Mother of Dragons” which absolutely describes the role Hong Kong has played for the modern sport of Dragon Boat Racing.
Racing dragon boats is certainly the national sport of Hong Kong. The roots are to be found with the Fishermen. Dragon Boating is part of their social life and the skills and traditions have been passed on from one generation to the next over hundreds of years.
The Fishermen don’t only race on Dragon Boat Festival Day, which always is the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar-calendar – they also hold many competitions within their family groups spread over spring, summer and autumn and they race almost anywhere that you find water.
The Fishermen Races generate the most exciting racing atmosphere in Hong Kong, full of tradition, joy and friendship. These races are family battles and each one is different to the other regarding the boats used. While one competition uses the big dragons with 56 Racers in a crew, the next event is organized using the small dragon boats with just 12 Paddlers. Crews bring their own boats to many of the races, which are often transported by sea from one island to another either loaded onto or towed behind a Fishing Trawler.
It is simply amazing and a very special, unforgettable vibrant experience to take part in one of those races, which normally the tourist and travelers to Hong Kong never see.
Looking at the crews and clubs in Hong Kong today, we see a variety of different paddler profiles and crew compositions. There are obviously the Fishermen and other local community crews, as I remember for example the Firemen and the Hong Kong Police crews and then there are the more serious, let us say the regular club crews, which are normally a mix of local and expat paddlers. These club crews tend to meet and train on a fairly regular basis. The third group is made up of Corporate Crews from the business sector, some of which have existed for a long time and others come and go.
The Fishermen are known as having the strongest teams in the territory and for the Non-Fishermen’s crews it is regarded as a great honor to be invited to a Fishermen’s race. But competing in their races is not easy, as they do not necessarily race to any standard rules. Known differences are at the starts, which are normally ‘free’ with seldom any ropes to hold to keep your boat aligned.
Racing on the sea towards the beach with a swell coming in from the side or behind the boat demands special skills to hold the boat in position on the start line and whilst the Helm is busy doing this, the start signal might be given with no warning words of “Are You Ready”
Once a race has started and depending on which race you are in, you might also find the competitors in the other crews suddenly standing up, mid race, to try and boost their speed. Fishermen races definitely have their own rules but the best feature of their races is the meals after the race – seafood, seafood, and more seafood!!!
There are, of course, also other races held in Hong Kong and the two with worldwide reputations are the Hong Kong International Races, now organized by the Hong Kong China Dragon Boat Association (HKCDBA) and the Stanley International Races organized by the Stanley Dragon Boat Association.
These two races do not only have a world-wide reputation for being nice events. They have influenced the Dragon Boat Sport in being what it is today.
Stanley itself had long been an important settlement for fisher folk and dragon boat racing has always been a very popular way to celebrate the annual Tuen Ng Festival. As far back as the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) East and West seemed to mix well here.
In the late ‘60s the local races started to attract the interest of several expats living in the Stanley area and by the early ‘70s the expats were racing against the local Chinese crews. The Chinese always dominated the races because of their, in general, lower body-weight compared to the Westerners. A boat with Chinese crews didn’t dive as deep into the water, which resulted in less water-resistance. So to make the races fairer for all in 1975 the organizers divided the races to allow the expats to compete in a category of their own. This was followed shortly after by the introduction of a Ladies’ Competition.
Now, that marked a big change in tradition to which ladies weren’t allowed to enter a dragon, because in ancient belief they were regarded as not being clean. To the old saying a Dragons wife always was a Phoenix. By this the first ladies teams didn’t paddle a Dragon rather than Phoenix Boat. I guess more for practical reasons and over the years this resulted into the ladies simply also paddling Dragon Boats.
One may say thanks to Stanley for initiating our ladies being allowed to ride a Dragon and for expat men having their own racing class.
Despite the for nowadays sport so important changes of traditions Stanley somehow managed to miss out in playing any role in the initial development of the modern era of Dragon Boat Sport, which started in Hong Kong in 1976 – or was it one year earlier?
With Dragon Boating being almost part of daily life in Hong Kong and also one, if not the oldest Chinese traditions it is not surprising that in 1975 the then Executive Director of the Hong Kong Tourist Association, Mr. John Paine and the Chairman of the Hong Kong’s Fishermen Association, Mr. Philip Lai should discuss Dragon Boat Racing as a way to promote Hong Kong as a tourist venue, with the attraction of a traditional sport and associated festival of Chinese culture.
They decided to hold the first International Dragon Boat Race in Hong Kong, in 1976 with a crew from the Japanese City of Nagasaki invited to race in Shau Kei Wan’s Typhoon Shelter. Thus it was that Dragon Boat Sport was born as this race marks the beginning of the modern era of Dragon Boat Racing. Since then until today the “Hong Kong International Festival Races – HKIR for short, have been held annually on the first weekend after the traditional Festival Races (Tuen Ng).
Following the regional success of the HKIR, the Tourist Association decided to go a big step further by starting a world-wide campaign of promoting Dragon Boat
Racing in their overseas markets as a way of attracting more and more tourists to the city and with the intention of making the dragon boat a symbol of Hong Kong.
Starting with the UK, USA and Canada, considerable efforts were made to promote Hong Kong by inviting crews to compete in the HKIR and wooden dragon boats were sent to England, Germany and other Countries for the invited crews to train in and promote Hong Kong through the media in their Home Countries.
And where did these boats come from? That’s right, from the Fishermen in Hong Kong, mainly from Chai Wan, a district on Hong Kong Island and from Cheung Chau, a small outlaying island within Hong Kong’s territory.
I dare to say, without the so colorful, passionate and vibrant Fishermen races, the idea to promote this tradition as typically Hong Kong would not have born. The Fishermen have built the boats, which were shipped overseas and the Fishermen have shown the first oversea crews how to paddle. All this finally has lead to the foundation of the European Dragon Boat Association (EDBF), the Asian Dragon Boat Federation (ADBF) and the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF). Today we even have since regular World Championships and thousands of joyful Dragon Boat Races and Festivals in over 90 countries.
For the traveler to Hong Kong I really recommend you to visit one the Fishermen Races. There a few spots like Shau Kei Wan, Cheung Chau, Aberdeen or Stanley Bay from where can watch pretty closely. The big Stanley Race takes place at Stanley Beach and is known as the worlds biggest one day dragon boat event.
Did you ever experience a 12 lane race? – There you will! – It’s vibrant!
