On October 7th, the Department of Physical Education held a lecture on "Dragon Boat and Related Culture" in Optics Valley Stadium as the prelude to HUST’s first international student dragon boat cultural activities.

Heng Shen is a lecturer from the School of Physical Education and also a National First-Class Referee for dragon boat games. Mr. Shen presented four possible origins of modern dragon boating and introduced famous, ancient paintings recording the tradition, for the international students. He explained the history of the dragon boat, both in China and the world; showing the trend of its internationalization, diversification, popularization, scientization and industrialization. Through a video, five forms of modern dragon boat games were demonstrated, namely straight track, circle track, rally, out and home, and tug of war, along with their varying rules. To conclude, Shen pointed out that dragon boat games in North America, South Africa, Australia, and many other regions, are flourishing and gaining acceptance around the world.

After the lecture, the international students commented that their understanding of dragon boats had been improved, and they were more willing to sign up to subsequent dragon boat related activities.

This lecture was co-sponsored by the School of International Education and the School of Physical Education; co-organized by the Student International Communication Association and the Dragon Boat Association of HUST, and was aimed at helping HUSTers gain more knowledge about dragon boats while discovering their charms.

Various activities are scheduled soon, including the real dragon boating experience of a friendly match, among others.

Written by: Rong He

Edited by: Shengyuan Ma, Scott, Yumeng Peng

Source: School of Physical Education