“Praising for the Reform and Opening-up and Celebrating the Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival” – Hundreds of Land Boats Competing in Yanqing

Yanqing land boat competition [Photo by Wang Ran]

On Sep 28^th, “Praising for the Reform and Opening-up and Celebrating the Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival” the land boat performance – Yanqing land boat competition was launched at West Erdao River primary school in Yanqing, Beijing. Through the land boat show, villagers in Yanqing showed the achievements during the 40 years of Reform and Opening-up and celebrated the first Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival.

During the competition, the “helmsmen” were rowing and the “passengers” were team playing with the “helmsmen”. The splendid performance won the applause of the entire audience and showed the image of Yanqing farmers in new era. The land boat competition was sponsored by Yanqing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication, Yanqing Municipal Civilization Office, and Yanqing Municipal Bureau of Culture, and undertaken by People’s Government of Jingzhuang Municipality and the branch of Yanqing Cultural Center.

Yanqing land boat competition [Photo by Wang Ran]

Jingzhuang Town also launched the construction project of Yanqing land boat exhibition center. Yanqing is the sub-site of Beijing Expo 2019 and 2022 Olympic Winter Games. In order to show the world the charm of Yanqing land boat as an intangible cultural heritage in China, the local government set up a cultural center that covers an area of 400 square meters at Liugou folk customs village in Jingzhuang Town. The cultural center exhibits the history, legends, and so on. Visitors can make their own cultural creative products in the center. The cultural center will be open in the corresponding period of Beijing Expo 2019.

Yan Jiawen, the student from West Erdao River primary school told the reporter that she had one hour’s social practice class for land boat every week. Yan has been studying land boat for two years. At the very beginning, she thought the boat was very heavy, but she has been gradually falling in love with land boat. Yan said that there were many colorful patterns on land boat, and studying land boat had deepened her understanding of traditional Chinese culture.

Competitors from West Erdao River School [Photo by Wang Ran]

Jingzhuang Town has been improving the life quality of local people and making Yanqing land boat a featured cultural branch in recently years. In 2009, Yanqing land boat was listed as the Beijing intangible cultural heritage, and in Nov. 2014, Yanqing land boat was listed as the nation-level intangible cultural heritage. Jingzhuang Town has raised many land boat teams, and one team even participated in an international cultural exchange event in South Africa, the other is preparing for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The whole town is now updating its mode of inheritance to show the world the charm of cultural heritage.

Yanqing has started various theme events. Tourists can enjoy the land boat show from 10.00 to 11.00 at the square in Liugou Village, make land boat model, visit the Great Wall, get a closer look of tofu making process, and discover the beauty of Yanqing. In addition, there are many high-end guesthouses, which will be the new choices for tourists to enjoy a fashionable countryside trip in Yanqing.