Many overseas visitors made a special trip to enjoy paddling dragon boats and sharing a traditional meal with locals at a National Day holiday festival in Foshan's Jiujiang town, south China's Guangdong Province.
The weeklong dragon boat carnival opened on Thursday with traditional races and a riverside banquet. Visitors can also try paddling a dragon boat throughout the holiday.
While dragon boat racing is widely associated with China's Dragon Boat Festival earlier in the year, Jiujiang has a long tradition of holding races in October.
The festivities coincided with a busy week for international travel in the region. Border officials expect more than 380,000 inbound and outbound passenger crossings at nearby Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport during the seven-day holiday, including more than 170,000 crossings by foreign nationals.
Georgie, who is from Scotland and has worked in Foshan for three years, invited two friends from home to experience the festivities.
"I'm so excited to show them around. You know, what an experience," Georgie said. For one of those friends, Keira, the festival came less than a day after she arrived in China.
"We arrived five o’clock yesterday, so we haven’t even been in the country for twenty-four hours. But it's been amazing. This is like the perfect way to start a trip," Keira said. The visitors boarded a traditional dragon boat, where local residents taught them to follow the drumbeat and paddle in time. It takes 40 people to propel the boat, and a lapse in rhythm can send it off course.
"They feel happy, good, a little... We don't know if the boat balance was right, but we made it, and now we're on land. So, yeah, it was fun," Georgie said. Visitors from the United States, South Africa, Brazil and Tajikistan also paddled alongside Chinese participants.
"It's my first time. I've never experienced before. It's been one of the best and breathtaking experience for me so far in China, for my whole journey. Yeah, I felt so good and excited and happy, and I hope to enjoy the next part," said John, a visitor from Tajikistan. The celebrations continued on shore with a lion dance. Tasia, a visitor from Brazil, tried her hand at drumming as she watched the performance.
"It's so fun, and I feel like it's a type of culture we can only experience in China," said Tasia, a visitor from Brazil. Later, the visitors sat down to a dragon boat meal, a communal feast that is part of Jiujiang's celebrations. The dishes included Jiujiang yusheng, a local specialty of sliced raw fish.
"It's so good. It was so beautiful to watch as well as to eat all the flavors," Keira said.
Overseas visitors paddle dragon boats, share holiday feast in Foshan
