Dragon Boats Draw Crowds To Meadow Lake
BYAYSELSEKMEC

The annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival at Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park once again brought joy and excitement to thousands of people last Saturday and Sunday. This event has been an attraction for the last 15 years and for this year, the Year of the Dog in the Chinese calendar, the event was no exception. More than 130 teams participated and tried to win a share of $15,000 in cash prizes. Some teams have been participants for the last several years.

Even though the races started at around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 12, the official opening ceremony didn't begin until noon. PeiSze Cheng, a reporter for WNBC News Channel 4 and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, began the opening ceremony, declaring: "We couldn't have wished for better weather for this event." The stage was crowded with representatives of all the sponsors as well as City Councilmember John Liu, who also gave a brief speech.

The New York segment of the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival has taken place in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for the last 16 years, but has been held in Hong Kong for centuries. It is based on the legend of Qu Yuan, a Court Minister who lived from 340 to 278 B.C. Qu Yuan was disliked by the ruling emperor for advocating reforms for his home state of Chu, and was exiled from the emperor's court. Traveling and writing poems about his current situation, he heard that his hometown was invaded and drowned himself. Fishermen raced their boats to his rescue, but to no avail. To prevent fish from using his body for their next meal, they spread rice dumplings in the water as an offering.

Drummers beat cadence for their respective rowing teams.

Today, the teams consist of up to 20 crewmen. The majority of the team members are paddlers and the remaining two crewmen are a drummer and a steersperson. The colorful boats weigh a ton each and are custom made in Hong Kong. They are distinguished by the dragon head in the front of the boat and a tail at the stern end where the drummer is sitting.

Thousands of visitors turned the park into the number one place to be in New York this weekend, especially for families. Saturday's program began with enchanting music by the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York. The Ensemble, founded in 1961 and known as New York's oldest, full-scale Chinese orchestra in the United States, was a treat for music lovers. Fans enjoyed the traditional string, wind and percussion instruments the Ensemble was using.

Argentinean dancers delighted the audience.

A little later, warrior monks from a Shaolin temple showed their skills in martial arts. Established in 495 A.D, warrior monks protected their temple from wars and riots. "This demonstration is really good for my 10-year old-son," explained John Korth. "Erik does karate, so it's exciting for him to see this demonstration." Erik nodded in agreement.

Others came, not just to be part of the event but also to support certain teams. Qiben Yu, an Asian American with JPMorganChase, came to support his team and the event. "This event is big for the Asian community. Asian businesses come here to support each other and other ethnic groups learn about the Asian community," he declared.

Throughout the day visitors of all different kinds of backgrounds enjoyed various events taking place on the stage. The international food court offered a variety of exotic dishes and all the sponsors had individual tents offering visitors different services. At the Citibank tent, for example, visitors who opened accounts received gifts in return. Long lines could be seen at every tent.

Sunday was no different from Saturday. Again people from all over came to the park, either to enjoy the races or to be entertained by the events on stage including the Chef One Dumpling Eating Contest, one of the big attractions on Sunday. At 3 p.m., Latin American dancers performed traditional folk dances of their native countries. Argentinean dancers delighted the audience with "Zamba" from Mendoza and a traditional number called "Huayra Muyoj" and Brazilian dancers wearing traditional and colorful costumes amazed the audience with a Brazilian form of tango and a dance called "Malambo".

This performance concluded the dances, but Barbara Nelson, director of programs and planning for the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York, made sure to let everyone know that the festival was far from over. The races were still going on and many people stayed at the park to await the announcement of the winners.

"Due to protests of some times, there were a lot of reruns and that's why we are a little behind schedule," Nelson said in explaining why the closing ceremony, scheduled for 5 p.m., actually started at 7 p.m. Some of the winning teams had left when Paul Wang, chairman of the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York Host Committee, called them to the stage. The overall winner of the U.S. Open mixed Championship, DCH NSX, sponsored by Shauwai Lam/DCH Auto Group, collected

a $7,000 prize. DCH EX, sponsored by the same group, was runner up in second place, and received a check for $3,000 and the Metro Athletic Association (MAD) in third place received $2,000. Winners in the other divisions received either a cash prize of $1,000 or trophies.