Dragon Boat Festival
01 · Historical Records
In the Qing dynasty, Hanjiang was the central port for inland trade with the island of Taiwan. The book "Record of the Fengtian Temple in Lugang" (Lugang Fengtian Gong Zhi) in Taiwan also records the matter of the "crossing between Hanjiang and Lugang" in the 49th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty (1784). This custom is a "historical reenactment" of the Qing-dynasty crossing between Hanjiang on the mainland and Lugang in Taiwan, and it exerts an important influence in cultural exchange across the Taiwan Strait.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Shishi Duanwu Fujian–Taiwan Crossing custom is a water-based Duanwu celebration jointly held by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait at Hanjiang, Shishi City, Fujian Province, on the Duanwu Festival. Hanjiang lies in the north of Shishi City, Fujian Province, and was already an important port on the southeast coast in the Song and Yuan dynasties. The stele "Record of the Newly Built Hanjiang Coastal Defense Office", erected in the 11th year of the Jiaqing reign (1806) and preserved intact to this day, records that "Hanjiang is the chief port of Quanzhou, crossing to Lukang in Taiwan"; the people therefore customarily call this stele the "Crossing Stele" (Duidu Bei). On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait hold the "Fang Wang Chuan" (Releasing the Royal Boat) ceremony at Hanjiang, while traditional folk activities such as lotus picking, splashing water at sea, dragon boat races, and duck catching are displayed. On the same day, Lugang in Taiwan holds the "Song Chun Liang" (Sending Spring Grain) ceremony, corresponding to the "Releasing the Royal Boat" activity at Hanjiang.
The stele of the cross-strait passage
The harbour at Hanjiang has always been deep enough for sail crossings, and a stele of 1806 records the passage between it and Lukang.
Launching the royal boat
On the fifth day the royal boat is released and followed by racing and flower-gathering boats, drums and signals filling the harbour.
Splash play and lotus gathering at sea
Lotus gathering and mutual splashing are young people’s play on the water, giving the festival its most sociable hours.
Spring grain at Lukang across the strait
On the same day Lukang sends out spring grain while Hanjiang releases the plague boat, two rites that face each other across the strait.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The festival custom of Hanjiang unfolds from a single ancient ferry crossing. In the early Qing, Hanjiang was already an important mainland port for trade with Taiwan, with frequent sail traffic to and from Lugang; the Crossing Stele erected in the 11th year of Jiaqing (1806) remains intact to this day, and its inscription recording Hanjiang as the chief port of Quanzhou, crossing to Lukang Harbor in Taiwan, is the hardest physical evidence of this maritime traffic. Today the water celebration of Hanjiang's Duanwu and Lugang's Sending Spring Grain in Taiwan face each other from afar — one on the west shore of the strait, the other on the west coast of Taiwan — held on the same day, forming a living example of the common origin of the two sides. Fishermen around Hanjiang have made their living from the sea for generations; in former times sail traffic was set by the seasons and the monsoons, and around Duanwu the waters happened to be calm, so the crossing on this day was at its height. Boat owners in the harbor mostly ran the festival from the surplus of their catch: loading and unloading, nets and gear, and colored banners were all put in order, while the rice, flour, and paper effigies used in the rites were mostly apportioned household by household among local shops and lineage groups. Today Hanjiang harbor still takes ships large and small, and the Crossing Stele stands near the bay mouth of those years, marking the very location where this festival custom arose.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The bay mouth at Hanjiang is deep, and in former times sailing ships from the two sides ran directly across, so this custom has never died out since ancient times; in recent years, with frequent exchanges between fishermen of the two sides, the water ceremony of the crossing has grown in splendor year by year, drawing tens of thousands of participants. The items of lotus picking, splashing water at sea, dragon boat races, and duck catching still preserve their old forms, while the Releasing of the Royal Boat best reveals the relationship between the belief custom and the prayers of the agrarian-fishing society.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Tan Guozheng 05-2970
- Liu Guisheng 05-2971
- Xiang Fuchang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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