Dragon Boat Festival

Beijing’s Long Tan Park Attracts Thousands for Dragon Boat Festival

By Mo Duffy Cobb – When I found out that my family and I were going to be Beijing at that time, I was overjoyed. I thought about the races for a month. I planned my weekend around it, and my husband, who was teaching in China, flew in from a neighbouring province. I had read the history, scanned all of the Chinese traditions, and prepared for the perfect day. Not once did it register that Beijing was nowhere close to a waterway. When I finally got to China, my five-year old daughter in tow, I spared no time asking around about it in my shaky Mandarin. Yes, yes, the ladies at my hostel assured me, big festival. National holiday. I should have known something was off when my inquiries as to the schedule of the races  – were met with perplexing looks. The morning of the event, I was delighted to discover that the chalkboard in the lobby was decorated with feisty looking dragons and the announcement Dragon Boat Festival in Long Tan Park! Since I assumed there would be dozens of races, I would only need to head down there and surely I would be able to find the right place– I knew that the park was large and there were four entrances, all quite a distance away from each other. I wondered then where the races would be held. A third red flag should have been that the lakes in Long Tan Park were full of, well, paddleboats. Leila, my daughter, and I had seen them when we had visited the park the week before.

بالصور: التنين الغواص يجتذب ملايين المحتفلين في الصين

يبدو ان احتفالات رأس السنة لا تنتهي في الصين، وتظهر هذه الصور احتفالات كبيرة وضخمة في مناطق عديدة في الصين، حيث يعتاد الصينيون على حمل أشكال من التنين على الاكتاف او على العصي، ومنهم من يحمل هذه الاشكال التي تشبه البالونات ويسير بها في السوق معبرين عن فرحهم في الاحتفال. ولا ننسى ان نذكر ان الالعاب النارية ايضا حازت على اهتمام واسع هناك، بالاضافة الى المشاهد الاستعراضية، واحدى أجمل هذه المشاهد كانت للتنين الغواص تحت الماء! حيث يقوم شخص بارتداء زي التنين والمشي تحت الماء في حوض كبير، بينما يقوم الاطفال بمشاهدته فرحا، وأخيرا وليس آخرا قاموا برفع كؤوسهم وشرب الخمرة متمنين لبعضهم سنة جميلة أفضل من السابقة.