Sailors from Singapore join Dragon Boat activities

Members of the Singapore national sailing team visited Shiqifang village in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on Wednesday, joining traditional local celebrations of the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival.

The sailors came to Ningbo in early June for the 2023 ILCA Asian Open Championship (International Laser Class Association), which was held from June 8 to 14 at Dongqian Lake. After an intense sailing competition, more than 30 members visited Shiqifang village in Xiepu township in the city's Zhenhai district.

Xiepu township was an important fishing hub during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Local fishermen used to celebrate the harvest with the Xiepu Boat Drum, a folk art in which people dance with boat-shaped props to folk songs and percussion instruments, mainly drums. The ancient art is on Zhejiang's intangible cultural heritage list.

After watching the traditional performance, the Singaporean sailors were eager to learn from the artists.

In celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on Thursday this year, they also experienced traditional Chinese customs, such as making sachets and zongzi, a traditional Chinese sticky rice dumpling wrapped in reed leaves.

"I heard about Chinese people making zongzi to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, but it's my first time to make it on my own," said Kenny Lim, who led the sailing team.

He said the team will participate in the sailing event of the 19th Asian Games, which will be held in September at the Ningbo Xiangshan Asian Games Sailing Center.

"The sailing competition and training facilities in Ningbo are great, which will help athletes to do their best," said Tracey Tan, a member of the team.

Yu Yin and Zheng Junyu in Ningbo contributed to this story.