Dragon boat racing makes waves in Manchester

It's a thrilling display of skills and teamwork, with exhilarating dragon boat races drawing crowds of onlookers and admirers. But this isn't Beijing, Tianjin or Hangzhou: it's Salford, in northwest England. 

The city, which is across the River Irwell from Manchester, has hosted dragon boat racing before with great success. This year's event – held at Salford Quays, near Manchester United's Old Trafford football ground – brought around 40 amateur teams together with a dozen professional ones in display of sporting prowess and cultural inclusiveness, with some of the big names including the Premier League champions Manchester City FC, FA Cup holders Manchester United FC and Salford Red Devils rugby league club.

It's the first time the Manchester United Foundation joined in - a whole new ball game for these world-renowned football experts.

"They're both obviously different techniques, but actually the tactics are very similar in terms of working together, good communication, working as a team," said the foundation's CEO John Shiels. "There's so much synergy between any team game. Obviously this is on the water, normally we're on grass, but apart from that I think it was a really good team effort."

Origin of the Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar, which this year corresponds to June 10 on the Gregorian calendar.

The holiday commemorates Qu Yuan, a Chinese official and poet during the Warring States Period about 2,300 years ago. Legend has it Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River in Central China over his banishment by the king. Those who loved him and believed he was wronged raced in dragon boats to find his body and threw zong zi - a kind of sticky rice cake wrapped in bamboo leaves - to feed the fish so that they would not eat his body. 

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In 2009 the holiday was officially approved by UNESCO to be on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the first Chinese holiday to be selected. 

Dragon Boat Festival in the UK

Dragon boat racing was introduced to the UK from Hong Kong around the 1980s, and the game featured competitively in Britain at the Hong Kong in London Chinese Festival. Races were held on the River Thames.

The British Dragon Boat Racing Association (BDA) was founded in 1987 as the UK's governing body for dragon boat racing as a sport and recreation.

Fast forward to 2012, Xinhua Chinese Association (XCA) started to organize dragon boat races in Greater Manchester. Now the event is considered an opportunity to showcase traditional Chinese culture, which has become an integral part of the Greater Manchester region.

"Our Dragon Boat Festival has a slogan: 'We get together. We share the future,'" said XCA Chairman Hanxin Yang. "This is also the reason we come together with the Salford City Council and the British Dragon Racing Association. We do it together.

"This is not a Chinese community event. It's British society, cultural and a sport event." 

Salford's Mayor Paul Dennett told CGTN Europe that the event is crucial to his city. 

"This is really important in the calendar for Greater Manchester and Salford because of the Chinese diaspora who've made Greater Manchester their home and also the UK's relationship with China," he said.

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