Across the Chinese diaspora, racing in dragon boats has been a tradition reaching back thousands of years.
But change is afoot – most recently in central Taiwan, where the races were switched to the evening to take advantage of cooler temperatures, a refreshing breeze and the sight of the boats lit up with LED lights running the length of the low-lying watercraft.
A drummer pounds out a rhythm behind the elaborately carved dragon head in the bow, while a navigator sits in the stern, where a tail rises to complete the look of the mythical animal, a traditional Chinese harbinger of prosperity and good luck.
Emily Lin, 31, who works as a sales executive in Changhua county, said training sessions at a local junior high school were an excellent way to strengthen friendships outside of work.
“This dragon boat race allows us to meet, exchange and take part in something,” Ms Lin said on Monday following qualifiers the previous night.
“But in the evening, you don’t have the sun,” Mr Chen said.
“When we focus on rowing during the race, we cannot enjoy the beautiful scene. But when we row back, we can really enjoy the beautiful sights,” he added.
This year’s races hold a special meaning for many participants and observers as they are the first after a three-year break because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In recent decades, the sport has spread in popularity around the world and standards have been imposed on rules and equipment, including the size of paddles and requirements that the drummer, playing a similar role to the coxswain in college and Olympic rowing, maintains a constant beat.
Dragon boat races are also being held in Hong Kong and Macao, as well as around mainland China, where lax safety standards have occasionally led to deadly accidents.
At a competition on a canal in the east of Beijing on Monday, participant Shi Shulei cheered the event as a celebration of traditional Chinese culture, devoid of commercial or foreign influences.
“Nowadays people celebrate many festivals invented by merchants or of other countries. We sometimes forget about Chinese traditional festivals. This event should be promoted because it helps to rejuvenate Chinese traditional culture,” they said.
Twenty-five teams representing companies, universities and residential compounds raced over the 650ft canal, where two boats collided in the preliminary round after one of them veered from its lane.
Despite temperatures of 35C, crowds from around the city of more than 20 million lined the canal and cheered from a reproduced Chinese ship from the imperial era.
In Hong Kong, a former British colony where political and civil liberties have been increasingly restricted in recent years, the emphasis among racers was on working together to achieve a common goal.
The races are connected to the tale of Qu Yuan, a loyal adviser to a Chinese emperor some 2,500 years ago who drowned himself in a river after his sage advice was rejected.
According to legend, to prevent fish from eating his body, supporters tossed in rice cakes, a tradition that continues to this day as observers mark the fifth day of the fifth lunar month by eating sticky rice dumplings.
