 This is an exhibit of what a practice room looks like for the Dragon boat racers to come and perfect their rowing skills. |  Traditional Tzung-tzi, or rice dumping, An essential part of the dragon boat festival |  |
Jackie and I at the Hongzhou train station
Jackie came to Jiaxing to see me this weekend for the Dragon Boat Festival. It is a famous holiday especially in Jiaxing and Hongzhou due to the popular Dragon boat races on the lakes. Jiaxing is famous for this throughout China known for Wu Fang Zai, which is the company here that makes Tzung-Tse. It is a triangular shaped sticky-rice dumpling-like thing with either meat, veggies or fried egg in the middle. It is wrapped in banana leaves and tied with string. The link these little pyramids of rice have to the Dragon Boat festival goes way back to the Ming Dynasty where a famous political leader named Chu Yuan committed suicide out of loyalty to his country by jumping into a river. Men raced in boats to rescue him, but they failed. To honor him, the people of the village threw Tzung-tzi in the river so the fish would eat them instead of his body. This is how the dragon boats also came to be, in representing the men who raced in boats to rescue Chu Yuan. Now, it has been a tradition for 2,500 years. Wow, this country has such a fascinating history full of traditions!
Dragon Boat Races!
This is one of my favorite pictures out of all the ones I took. I love how you can see the dragon, the flags and the men rowing. (and of course, the many people in the background!)
 Me at the Dragon Boat Race!! |
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Re-uniting at the train station
So Jackie and I took the train down to Hongzhou and met up with our Holland Fellow friends from Fudan University John, Robert and his girlfriend Maggie. At the train station we were excited to reunite with them and from there we all took a taxi to the Hongzhou Xixi Wetlands where the festivities and Dragon Races were being held. As soon as we got there we were flocked by hundreds of people eager to see the great dragon boats with and to cheer on their teams. There were over 200 registered dragon boat teams from villages all over Hongzhou. As we approached the river, we could hear fireworks, cheering and the sound of many dragon boat drummers keeping their team in time with one another. It was a great sound and very exciting as we came in sight of the boats. They were all so energetic and passionate about winning. It was great to see and we even joined a group of people cheering for their boats. They gave us flags and we joined in the "Yi, Er, San, Si" (one, two, three, four) cheering for their dragon boat.
 |  Cheering on our Dragon Boat!!! whoo!! |  |
John and I at West Lake Pagoda
To wrap up the day, we went to visit the famous West Lake of Hongzhou. It was absolutely beautiful. A tranquil lake surrounded by willow trees and giant flowers and lilly pads floating in the water. There were thousands of people there. It was a little bit crazy at first but never-the-less worth every second. As Jackie and I headed to the train station we boarded the bus and we were PACKED in there like tiny sardines. I NEVER imagined that so many people could fit into a bus. Even though people were standing blocking the bus doors, the bus driver still stopped and my mind was blown as we managed to squeeze EVEN MORE people on the bus. We didn't even have to hold on because we were so crammed that there wasn't even any where to fall!! After a looooooong 40 minute bus ride getting closer to strangers then I ever have before, we finally got off at the last stop which was the train station. Relieved not to have people's arms and legs all over us, we rushed to our train and boarded with time to spare. As we were whisked off on the bullet train towards good ol' Jiaxing, I closed my eyes and let the experiences of this fantastic day sink in.
 Just look at the West Lake causeway filled with people for miles and miles!! |  Jackie and I on the VERY crowded bus to the train station.... |
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