Glory Days Lukang's Dragon Boat Festival

"If you haven't been to Lukang, then you don't know the beauty of Lukang's traditional simplicity and tranquility; if you haven't been to Changhua, then you don't know the strong and open character of this newly opened land along the coast." So declared Changhua County executive Liv Wong at the opening ceremonies for the Dragon Boat Festival "blue sports" activities. The two main axes of this year's Dragon Boat Festival were demonstrations of arts, crafts, and traditional skills in the historic town of Lukang itself, and contests of speed held in the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park.

The granddaddy of festivals

Looking back over the history of the Lukang Dragon Boat Festival, you could say that this is the granddaddy of the celebrations of traditional folk holidays that have in recent years been organized on a large scale throughout Taiwan. As early as 1977, local people, hoping to recapture some of the former glory of the days when Lukang was Taiwan's second most important settlement, organized the first such event. Led by the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and with the enthusiastic participation and dedication of local educators, the first of the Dragon Boat events was launched. Activities included dragon boat races, "the sailcart taking the bride to her new home," "pacifying the earth bull," and poetry readings, all well known traditional activities. Except for two years since then when the event has been canceled because of repair work to the water course, this year marked the 23rd edition of the event.

Dragon Boat Festival falls every year on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar; this year that day was June 15th. In the early morning, leading the way at the conference center of the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park was the Tai Chi Men Drum Troupe, a group which in recent years has traveled widely in Taiwan and abroad and can always be counted on to make a strong showing. Large drums symbolizing the justness of heaven and the intersection of the realms of light and darkness were lined up in a row, and their sound resonated with authority and power. In an effort to do their part on behalf of the traditional Dragon Boat Festival wish for "light winds and moderate rains," they shared their glory-or rather enjoyed reflected glory twice as great-by moving side-by-side with dragon boats on the water. Tai Chi Men also specially arranged for a performance of "The Divine Dragon."

Shortly thereafter, President Chen Shui-bian made an appearance. Besides greeting the assembled crowd with his customary warmth, he ordered a whole bunch of Lukang delicacies, rolling their names off fluently as if they were a list of treasured family heirlooms. They included specialties of venerable old shops-pastries from Yu Chen Chai (a company that dates back to the Japanese occupation era), "cow's tongue" fried bread from Chiu Lung Chai, and meat rolls from Chen Wei Chen-and of course both the oyster omelets and meatballs for which Lukang is famous far and wide. It is said that "Only in the third generation of wealth and nobility does one know how to dress and eat." It was only through Lukang's generations of prosperity in the early days that this fine cuisine came into being, and the cuisine in turn really brings one back to the glory days of the past.

In the whole celebration, an essential event not to be missed was a Lukang folk tradition that has become a trademark of the town: "the sailcart taking the bride back to her new home." A group of newlyweds cruised by on vehicles that seemed to be boats, yet also seemed to be carts, with President Chen serving as one of the witnesses to their nuptials.

Describing the history of the sailcart, Tsai Li-ching, chairman of the Lukang Educational and Cultural Foundation, begins the story by noting that back in the mid-Qing dynasty (around the mid-18th century), Lukang was a boomtown. Boats traveled back and forth constantly between its harbor and the Quanzhou region of Fujian Province on the other side of the Taiwan Strait. One day, Lukang's wealthiest citizen, Lin Pin, saw a filthy child who had recently come over from the mainland begging on the street. Lin was touched, and paid for the child to eat his fill. This young beggar later became the infamous pirate leader Cai Qian, the scourge of the Quanzhou coast.

Cai Qian never forgot his gratitude for that gift of a meal, and he declared that if any ship had a Lukang person on board with an "exemption from piracy chit," the entire ship would be left alone.

Later (yes, this is still the story of the sailcart!), a certain merchant from Lukang named Huang was on his way to Quanzhou to handle some business. Along the way the ship on which he was travelling encountered pirates. The situation looked desperate, but fortunately, a cashier traveling with Huang, named Cai, was able to produce in time an exemption chit that was a family heirloom, and everyone escaped with both life and livelihood intact. Huang was so grateful to the cashier that he offered him his daughter's hand in marriage.

In order to commemorate this event, Cai attached wheels to a sailboat and used this hybrid to bring his bride from her home back to his own. This wheeled boat was meant to symbolize that the two were "in the same boat, whatever may come," and was an auspicious sign of prospering on both land and sea. The story rapidly got around Lukang, and to this day bringing home a bride with a sailcart, and sailcart races, have become defining customs unique to the town.

May the wind be at your back

Immediately after the opening ceremonies, the "three-in-one blue sports events" formally began. These included the dragon boat rowing races on the Chi An water course, cycling races, and a new event started only this year, sailing (both sailboats and windsurfing).

"None of these three events utilize motor power, and all are pollution free, so they conform very well to the contemporary emphasis on environmental protection," says county executive Liv Wong. Changhua is the home of Merida, the bicycle manufacturers, and when tourists come to Lukang, most rent bicycles to navigate the small lanes and paths through the town. Thus, cycling is for Changhua not only a sporting spectacle, but also a method to promote industrial development and strengthen corporate loyalty to the county. As for the newest "blue sports," sailboating and windsurfing, these are closely connected to Changhua's natural endowment of emerald seas and blue skies, of which the local people are justly proud.

Tsai Chiu-ta of the Changhua Sailing Association, who actually hails from Taichung, points out that there is an as-yet-undeveloped harbor area within the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. Since the water there is calm, and the northeast seasonal winds criss-cross here with southwest air currents, it offers a great location for practicing and competitions. In fact, he avers, the conditions are so outstanding that the site is second only to Hawaii in the Pacific.

This year's sailboat competition included 50 competitors from six countries. The prize-winning sailor, Alan Read of South Africa, said that he comes to Lukang almost every weekend, and that this bay has become his second home in Taiwan. It is only regrettable that the surrounding facilities are inadequate. Dust flies all around the bay, and don't even mention storage facilities, there are not even places to get out of the sun or to shower.

The newly added sporting events made this year's Lukang Dragon Boat Festival even more diversified and exciting to watch. Meanwhile, the town of Lukang itself, with its long history and many historic sites, lent a terrific old-fashioned ambience to the celebration of this traditional holiday.

Living folk culture museum

There was an old saying that "first is the Capital, second is Lukang, and third is Mengchia." It meant that the most important city in old Taiwan was Tainan (the seat of government), followed by Lukang, with Mengchia (now called Wanhua, part of Taipei City) third. Tsai Li-ching points out that of the three locations named, both Tainan and Taipei have undergone excessive development and modernization. But because the harbor in Lukang began to experience heavy silting a century ago, Lukang was largely ignored, and was even bypassed by the highway. Because development there has been slower, it retains its traditional appearance to a much greater extent.

Moving through Lukang, in the short space of the two or three kilometers of Chungshan Road, there are three major historic sites that are "can't miss" for tourists. First, at the southern end of the street is a group of structures that includes a memorial hall to great literati, a temple to warrior deities, and the old-style Wenkai Academy. Next comes the Lungshan Temple, a Grade I national historic site, which has been called "a palace of Taiwan arts" and "Taiwan's Forbidden City." Finally, at the north end of Chungshan Road lies the center of religious faith in Lukang, Tienhou Temple.

As part of the Dragon Boat Festival celebrations, at the main gate to Tienhou Temple passersby were given freshly-made, round danti fried bread, symbolizing "everything comes around to where you wish." Meanwhile, the unique "crawl under the sedan chair" activity attracted a long line of people, male and female, young and old alike. Everyone took their turn to kneel and worship, after which they crawled under the Matsu sedan chair; upon arising, they received a peach or a pear, both auspicious symbols, from the hands of a staff member at Tienhou Temple.

As visitors, ensconced in a fog of incense smoke, worshipped this seated, silver-faced female deity who protected the people when they first came here to build the town, they were also able to have a detailed look at the main hall, exquisitely sculpted by the early Republican masters Li Huan-mei, Chiang Hsin, and Kuo Hsin-lin, and imagine the exciting scenes of yesteryear when boats filled the harbor and their sails filled the sky.

Tienhou Temple is even more packed every year in the third month of the lunar calendar for Matsu's birthday, which is a major event for the entire central Taiwan region. Wu Shu-hsi, one of the directors of the temple, explains that because Matsu is a deity of very high standing, her "inspection tours" all take place during the day. That is why at Dragon Boat Festival, at night it is the relatively lower-ranked deity, Wang Yeh, who goes out. His "divine tour in darkness" gives visitors a glimpse of Lukang's more mysterious religious side.

Dealing with demons in the dark

At about 7:00 on the evening of Dragon Boat Festival, there was already a large crowd gathered in front of the Hu An Temple, a house of worship in the southern suburbs of the town. Deities and performance troupes from more than 30 temples were scheduled to participate in the "night inspection tour." In carefully regulated order, one by one they first paid their respects to the main deity of the evening's journey: the Hu An Temple's Wang Yeh. As this was going on, Wang Yeh's sedan chair shook constantly and numerous chair bearers, trembling as though possessed by a higher power, had to be replaced.

After this ritual, which took about an hour, the various folk, Taoist, and Buddhist religious figures assembled into a line, and boisterously proceeded toward Chungshan Road and the center of town. The "mother and father to the people" (as Chinese magistrates were nicknamed in imperial times)-county executive Liv Wong-was already a step ahead and was waiting to greet the procession in front of the venerable Yu Chen Chai shop.

When the "nightime inspection tour" approached its end, as people in the assembled crowd jostled for the best position, the procession, following precedent, moved on to Tienhou Temple so that the deities and worshippers could pay their formal respects to the higher-ranking Matsu. After that, all the deities returned to their respective temples and reported to the Heavenly Court that they had finished their assignment; only then could the ceremony be deemed a complete success.

"The 'night inspection tour by the deities' is a religious event that is unique to Lukang," says Lukang's mayor, Huang Chih-lung. In the old days, Lukang was the main commercial harbor between central Taiwan and mainland China. But businessmen were not the only ones to flourish. The harbor also attracted pirates, bandits, and epidemic diseases. Anytime any Wang Yeh from any area temple discovered a lack of tranquility in the area, he could petition the Heavenly Court, and lead a nighttime inspection tour to capture demons and expel malevolent spirits.

"Traditionally the 'night inspection tour' was forbidding and created a sense of evil lurking everywhere," explains Mayor Huang. When Wang Yeh circulated through the narrow lanes and alleyways of the town, doors were sealed and lights were extinguished in all houses along the route. The only illumination came from the lanterns of the inspection party. The songcaoren ritual for expelling evil, conducted just before the end of the inspection tour, was even more fearsome. Many legends surround bad things that happened to people who didn't get out of the way in time and were subject to the same terrifying forces that were called up to deal with demons.

Of course, now that these religious rituals have become tourist attractions, they have lost a lot of their awe-inspiring and intimidating nature. Indeed, with the many performance troupes that now participate, the night inspection has taken on a festive spirit similar to ordinary temple parades. Nonetheless, the ancient rituals and the chilling legends surrounding them still live on in people's thoughts as they watch.

Don't go back empty-handed

This year, the day after Dragon Boat Festival was a Sunday, and the Lukang event continued the high level of excitement generated the preceding evening; even larger numbers of outsiders flooded into the town.

All visitors to Lukang inevitably go exploring. Besides the three major historic sites mentioned earlier, when you stroll through the narrow streets, even without deliberately looking, you just need to raise your head and you will frequently see exquisitely carved plafonds, decorative ceramic window frames, and vases inlayed into walls, providing a stream of delightful surprises.

A number of interesting sites line both sides of Chungshan Road, including the Yilou (a historic building), Nine Turns Lane, Three Mountain Kings Temple, and the Museum of Folk Artifacts (housed in the refurbished former residence of Ku Hsien-jung, a well-known figure in Lukang during the Japanese colonial era). Scattered between and adding further color are old-fashioned tin shops and ateliers specializing in traditional crafts like lanterns, religious statuary, and the special sedan chairs for hoisting deities and carrying them on their rounds.

"When you walk around Lukang, you must adjust your spiritual clock, and definitely should not rush through helter-skelter," advises Tsai Kuei-lin, a teacher at Lukang's Tingfan Primary School who planned many of the folk activities in the event. In order that visitors who came for Dragon Boat Festival could gain a deeper understanding of Lukang, the organizers specially arranged for hands-on activities involving parents and children, exploring characteristic Lukang pastimes such as playing with tops, riding bamboo horses, and the unique "pacifying the earth bull."

Tsai Li-ching, who was a pioneer in promoting the "pacifying the earth bull" activity, explains that early on in Taiwan many people believed that earthquakes were caused by "the earth bull turning over." People in Lukang evolved a scheme to appease this creature. They took hollow bamboo sections, and spun them like tops. These spinning bamboo sections made a "whoo-whoo" sound, and when everyone young and old had their "earth bull tops" spinning at the same time, the sounds being emitted from the bamboo-some at higher pitches, some lower, some clear and some dull-combined into an "earth bull symphony." The idea was that the earth bull would be so fascinated that it would forget to turn over.

Thanks to Lukang's early prosperity, which brought many arts and crafts masters from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in mainland China to teach in Taiwan, Lukang has always been famous throughout the island for its artisanship. In early days, when someone's daughter was getting married, there was no more demonstrative gift than a complete set of traditional Lukang furniture inlaid with precious metals and shells. Even today, the little town of Lukang alone boasts six of the winners of the country's coveted "National Heritage Award," in fields such as wood carving, religious statuary, tinsmithing, and traditional lantern making, suggesting the rich inheritance that Lukang has.

The five treasures

One reason why these skills have been so successfully passed down is the nearly religious veneration that the people of Lukang have for traditional arts. On Sunday morning, there was a novel event added to the celebrations, the "Honorable Lu Ban Banquet," which was an expression of respect for Lu Ban, the leading forerunner of the arts in Lukang. This was no mere exercise in gluttony, but an event filled with interest and grace. The main offerings to Lu's spirit were the "five treasures of the artisan" (various measuring devices, markers, and tools), while artworks were set on every table as additional offerings. The seriousness with which the ritual was taken is evidenced by the fact that a central government official-Council for Cultural Affairs vice chairman Liu Wann-hong-served as master of ceremonies, with the Changhua County executive and the mayor of Lukang as his seconds.

Li Tung-liang, a director of the Chaoyang Lukang Association, points out that in the early years of the Guangxu reign period (1871-1908) of the Qing dynasty, the Quanzhou woodcarving master Li Ko-chiu moved to Lukang, where he gathered together all the local wood sculptors and organized a guild. Today, a century later, its namesake organization selects an annual chief organizer by casting for divination sticks; this individual is then responsible for arranging the ceremony honoring Lu Ban.

It was eight years ago that this ceremony was expanded into a local festival. Besides the traditional five treasures of the artisan given in offering, many local artists bring out the piece of which they are most proud for that year and display it before their professional forebear. For one thing this shows their determination and earnestness; on the other, people in similar professions can gather, exchange ideas, and develop a group loyalty. Today, many tourist come to admire the works on display and to buy from the countless stands set up all around the grounds. Some of these crafts, including the local ceramics, silk-flower making, and puppet making, are virtually lost arts, and need and deserve the attention of concerned members of the public.

Poetic license granted here

Traditional arts are not the only thing Lukang can boast of. Not only has the town produced more than 300 doctoral recipients, it is also a center of classical poetry reading. Tingfan Primary School, which set up a children's poetry club way back in 1983, has the honor of being known throughout Taiwan as a center of poetry, music, and children's songs. However, the poems are read in local dialect, not standard Mandarin, and Tsai Kui-lin, whose dedication to teaching verse has never waned over these many years, bemoans the fact that "kids today are rotten at speaking their mother tongues" (Taiwanese, Hakka, or an aboriginal language). Tsai often has to make them repeat a word dozens of times before they can reproduce the elegance and learned tone of the Lukang accent.

Another of the core Dragon Boat Festival events was the performance of singing and reading of verse sponsored by the Lu Chiang Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting Society. Though only a few people were in attendance, this in no way diminished the enthusiasm and seriousness of purpose of the participants. The traditional poems and ci verse, arranged to music by Shih Kuo-hsiung, a teacher, were variously strident or tragic, lilting or dirgelike, but all were captivating to watch, and audience members were truly able to understand Lukang's long-established reputation for poetry and music.

The Lukang Dragon Boat Festival successfully brought together sporting events with traditional arts, combining the rich traditions of this little town with a little modern flair. Many of Taiwan's communities would like to duplicate Lukang's success. But they need to ask: What should they emphasize? How can they "repackage" their distinctive traits to revitalize their localities? Now that one festival is over, elsewhere the real challenge is just beginning.

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The Lukang Dragon Boat Festival event is now in its 23rd year. The crowd of people and bright lights at the Tienhou Temple recall the days long ago when Lukang was Taiwan's second most important town.

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Windsurfing is a relatively new sport on the island of Taiwan. The Changhua-Lunhui coast, which offers calm seas and strong winds, is ideal for sailing of all kinds.

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Dragon boat racing is a perfect combination of strength with beauty. Taiwan's "Big Four" dragon boat racing events take place in Lukang, Taipei City (on the Keelung River), Taipei County (Lake Pitan), and Ilan County (Erlung Village).

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One of the "blue sports" that were part of the Lukang Dragon Boat Festival was cycling, held on the vast open grounds of the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. Even President Chen Shui-bian couldn't resist having a try!

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(left) Rows of volunteers passed out fried bread to visitors; the round shape is an auspicious play on words in Chinese.

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Some of the most famous dishes of Taiwan cuisine are in fact specialties from Lukang. These include (top to bottom) fried shrimp, "cow's tongue," deep-fried oyster balls, oyster omelets, and rice noodle stew. More and more of these are appearing at state functions, allowing foreign guests to sample their delights.

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(right) Lukang Township has been called a "living museum." Around every corner you can find historic sites, artifacts, artisans working in nearly-extinct traditional trades, and a rich cultural ambience. When you stroll along the old streets, time seems to stand still.

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At left are pictured conventional (above) and "earth bull" (below) tops. Though different in shape (the former are conical and solid, the latter tubular), they share one thing in common: it's not that easy to use them well!

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Just married! Lukang boasts the very unique custom of grooms bringing home their brides in "sailcarts." The tradition arises, legend has it, from a narrow escape from pirates.

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(right) The Tienhou Temple, rebuilt in 1922, is dedicated to a Matsu icon brought over from the parent temple in Meizhou, Fujian Province. Being the "No. 2 Matsu" among the "Six Pioneering Matsus" brought over by the earliest settlers, it has a high status, and all year round worshippers fill the air with incense.

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These days, between the performing troupes, the colorful lanterns, and the tourists, the "night inspection tour of the deities" has lost the fearsome, awe-inspiring air that originally characterized it, but it still gives outsiders a glimpse of Lukang's ancient religious traditions.