Mui Wo, on Lantau Island, is a small village but on the weeks leading up to the Dragon Boat Festival celebrations it gets livelier by the day as dragon boat teams practice nightly on the dark waters off the quiet beach. The methodical beat of drums is heard repeatedly from across the far waters of the bay.
About a week before the actual date of the celebration – June 14-15 – the lead-up heats take place and that’s when this small place comes into its own. The Rural Committee organises the event and it is taken most seriously by participants.
Tuen Ng commemorates the drowning of Chinese poet Qu Yuan, who, according to popular legend, drowned himself in Hunan province 2,000 years ago in protest at what he saw as corrupt rule. As local residents rushed to rescue him, they loudly beat drums and threw dumplings in the river to drive away flesh eating fish. The eventual result was dragon boat racing, with its resounding drums and rhythmic paddling that throws up clouds of seawater in the heat of excitement at the race climax.
Traditionally, a regatta is held on Sha Tin’s Shing Mun River, and attracts serious dragon boaters and fans. This year, over 120 teams from Hong Kong, mainland China, the US, and New Zealand will race the 500-metre-long course. Local favourites include the Police and Fire Services teams, though the local districts and fishermen groups are always well applauded by spectators.
However, there’s something special about the Mui Wo event that is missing from the international, and it is all due to the well organised turn-out fermented by the village Rural Committee. Government officials, police high-ups, business heads involved locally in construction, and religious types, line the rows of seats on the sands behind tables hosting the grand array of gold-silver sheened cups and medals. The inevitable speeches ensue but it has to be like that as the day has its formal side and respect is given, then the beer comes out – though lots of red wine these days too.
There is a wide list of entrants, a spokesperson for the Southside Massive Urban Gorillaz dragon boat team based in Hong Kong told this reporter: “It’s very well organised here and really it’s a favourite each year and we would not miss it – it’s also very reasonable to take part and not expensive like other places”, referring to Stanley which is the team’s usual haunt.
Other teams are the Sea Cucumbers, Seagods, Lamma Dragons, and difficult to translate local Chinese teams, mens and womens.
This year the outright winner was San Soi Loon, a fishermen entrant that did not have any details in the coloured brochure of the day other than its allotted number and name – showing what is valued in Mui Wo is performance alone – so many entrants had their detailed briefs in the brochure but this is a local event in the end and local fisherman’s cultural territory.
Happy Paddling!
