Miluo's dragon boat legacy drives wider cultural appeal

Less than two weeks before the Dragon Boat Festival, which fell on June 19 this year, Yu Chungeng and his company were racing against the clock. "There were still over a dozen orders to deliver," he said. "We were working day and night."

This was the busiest time of the year for Yu, president of a dragon boat manufacturing company in Miluo, Central China's Hunan province. Like many others in the area, dragon boat making is a family business.

When Yu was a teenager, he learned the craft from his grandfather and has been in the industry for decades. In 2008, he founded his own company.

Today, his workshop produces about 300 boats a year, which sell across the country and beyond, with an annual output value exceeding 6 million yuan ($888,000).

"We offer all kinds of dragon boats according to customers' needs," Yu said, adding that in addition to racing boats built to national standards, customers from different regions order boats of various sizes and styles to reflect their own traditions.

One of Yu's proudest achievements came three years ago, when his company was commissioned to build a traditional double-oar dragon boat for Lanxi township in Yiyang, Hunan, measuring over 100 meters in length. While a standard dragon boat typically accommodates 22 people, this massive vessel was designed to carry more than 420 people.

"There were real technical challenges, especially with the load capacity and structural design," he said. "We had to get every detail right."

On June 1, 2024, the boat was officially measured at 100.987 meters and certified by Guinness World Records as the longest dragon boat in the world. This achievement brought a surge of orders to Yu's company, including from abroad as far as the Philippines and Malaysia.

Yu's company is just one example of the thriving dragon boat manufacturing industry in Miluo, a city believed to be the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival.

According to popular legend, the festival commemorates Qu Yuan, a loyal statesman and poet of the Chu state during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). After being unjustly exiled, Qu drowned himself in the Miluo River in despair over the decline of his state. Local villagers paddled out in boats to save him, and over the years, boat racing became a prevalent tradition to honor the poet.

More than 2,300 years later, the dragon boat has evolved beyond folklore, becoming a major economic driving force in the region. Today, Miluo, a city of 621,000 residents, is home to 17 dragon boat manufacturing enterprises. The industry employs about 600 people and produces more than 5,000 boats annually, with a total output value of nearly 250 million yuan.

High-level dragon boat racing events have also become a hallmark of the city. Since 2005, Miluo has hosted 22 international dragon boat events during the Dragon Boat Festival, attracting a large number of visitors. According to data from the city government, core scenic areas in Miluo received 122,900 visitors during last year's Dragon Boat Festival holiday, generating 5.9 million yuan in tourism revenue.

Yu is now setting his sights on a larger global market. Confident in his team's technical expertise and the cultural appeal of Miluo's dragon boat-making heritage, he is eager to expand internationally. He plans to travel to New Zealand and Germany to pursue new orders.

"Wherever there are overseas Chinese communities, there is demand for our dragon boats," he said. "By exporting the boats, we are also sharing our dragon boat culture with the world."

Zhu Youfang in Changsha contributed to this story.