Press Release
46th Annual Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival
Media/press contact:
Gail Wang
617-259-0286
pr@bostondragonboat.org
Press Release: 46th Annual Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival
(Boston May 11, 2025) Come celebrate with us in the Year of Dragon the 46th Annual Boston
Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival on Sunday, June 8th, 2025, from 12:00–5:00 PM rain or shine!
The Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival is the oldest dragon boat festival in North America,
founded in 1979.
Located by John W. Weeks Footbridge on the Charles River, between JFK Street and Western
Avenue, this year’s festival will feature 72 teams, with about 2000 paddlers from all over
Massachusetts, New England, New York, Florida. They will compete in ten category groups
with special races and medals for Collegiate, Finance, Corporate, Health Care, Chinese
University Alumni, Women, Club, Community, Youth, and All Cancer Survivor divisions.
Spectators will be able to watch brightly colored, 40 foot Hong Kong style dragon boats as they
race on a 500-meter course up the Charles River from the Western Avenue Bridge to the John
W. Weeks Footbridge. This is a serious and sanctioned Dragon Boat racing competition.
Today, Dragon Boat Festivals and races are popular around the world. The first Dragon Boat
Festival in the United States was held in Boston in 1979, the first in North America. It is now the
largest Asian cultural festival in New England. Just 10 years ago Boston had 22 community
teams now we have 54 community teams. Competitive club teams in Boston that race
worldwide jumped from 4 to 15. These are some of the examples demonstrating the drastic
growth of dragon boat racing as a sport nationwide and worldwide.
The Dragon Boat Races start on Saturday June 7th and in the early morning on June 8th and the
cultural programs and festival will begin at 12 Noon on June 8th. All programs are free and
family friendly for visitors. Sponsors, founders, dignitaries and community members will dot the
eyes of the dragonhead on each boat in a traditional Eye-dotting Ceremony. This is an ancient
Chinese ceremony that is believed to enable the dragon to soar with the utmost power. The
Eye-dotting Ceremony will take place at Noon at the docks with the accompaniment of a
traditional Chinese waist drum dance on the stage inside the large performance tent. After the
eye-dotting ceremony, VIPs and sponsors will follow Wahlum Kungfu’s dragon dance parade into
the performance tent for the ribbon cutting and opening ceremony.
The Eye-dotting Ceremony will be followed by cultural programs, demonstrations and
performances in the performance and arts & crafts tents on the Cambridge side grassy areas
along the river as well as our major sponsors’ promotional tents. There will be traditional
Chinese drumming, singing and music, Chinese Yoyo performance, as well as Korean, Thai and
Chinese dances, Korean Taekwondo demonstrations, traditional Chinese opera performance,
and returning favorites such as Dragon and Lion Dances, Chinese martial arts and traditional
Japanese Taiko drumming. Watch and learn Taichi, martial art, and lion dance with
demonstrators in our interactive program. Visitors young and old will find fun, inspiration and
cultural engagement with beautiful hands-on Asian games, arts and crafts. Come also to sample
various Asian foods featuring Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indian, Pilipino, Chinese and
more along Memorial Drive.
Boston Dragon Boat Festival is working with Mass Water Resource Authority to bring free
drinking water to the festival site with a water buggy. People can fill their water bottles in a
warm June day.
This year, 3 new dragon boats are added to our dragon boat fleet. Eastern Bank generously
donates a new boat to the festival committee to show our joint effort in promoting Asian
culture and healthy living! Trapology sponsored a complete make over for 2 boats updating
them to new boat quality. A Buddhist blessing ceremony will take place at 4:00PM on June 6th at
MIT Boat House (409 Memorial Dr, Cambridge, MA 02139). A respected Buddhist teacher from
American Int’l Puti (Bodhi) Dharma Society will conduct the blessing for these new boats. Press/
media and the general public are welcome to come observe and celebrate.
The Boston Dragon Boat Festival is sponsored by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office,
Trapology Boston, Bain Capital, Eastern Bank, Gentle Giants, South Cove Community Health
Center, State Street, Blue Cross & Blue Shields, Chinese Cultural Foundation, Sun Life, and
Boston Dragon Boat Festival Committee. We partner with Greater Boston Chinese Culture
Association, Cambridge Arts Council, Lexington High School, Boston Latin School, as well as
Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation and Massachusetts Water Resources
Authority.
Traditionally held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (late May to mid June on the solar
calendar), the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the life and death of Qu Yuan (340-278
BCE). A political leader of State of Chu, Qu Yuan is recognized as China’s first distinguished poet.
Qu Yuan lost the king’s favor and was banished from his home state of Chu because of his
opposition to the prevalent policy of compromise to the powerful state of Qin. In exile, he wrote
the poem, “Encountering Sorrow,” which shows a great loyalty to his state and its people. In 278
BCE, Qu Yuan learned the news that Chu had been conquered by Qin. Heart broken, he
drowned himself in the Mi Lo River. The people of Chu rushed to the river to rescue him. Too
late to save Qu Yuan, they splashed furiously and threw zong-zi (traditional rice dumplings
wrapped in bamboo leaves) into the river as a sacrifice to his spirit and to keep the fish away
from his body.
The Boston festival is used as a vehicle to promote Asian cultures and dragon boat racing, as
well as to bring diverse communities together in Boston and the surrounding areas. In 2023,
around 50,000 people lined the banks of the Charles to enjoy the festivities and performances.
Website
https://www.bostondragonboat.org
Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/BostonDragonBoat/
https://www.instagram.com/bostondragonboatfestival/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyXXAle3rXFRPisR6KukPiQ
For PR, other festival inquiries and media parking, please contact:
Gail Wang
617-259-0286
pr@bostondragonboat.org
第四十六屆波士頓香港龍舟節
在這裡輸入要轉換的內容 Media/press contact:
汪剛柳
617-259-0286
info@bostondragonboat.org
第四十六屆波士頓香港龍舟節
（波士頓2025年5月23日）
壹年壹度的波士頓香港龍舟賽將於六月八日（星期日）舉行, 時間中午十二時至下午五時。2025年 是波士頓龍
舟節和龍舟賽的第四十六週年。今年大波士頓地區、麻州、新英格蘭和全美各地前來參賽的共有七十二個龍
舟隊。屆時，龍舟健兒們將在鑼鼓喧天聲中，劃著顏色鮮艷、船身輕盈的香港式龍舟， 在Weeks 步行橋和
Western Ave大橋之間的查爾斯河段激烈角逐。龍舟賽激烈的競爭將在以下十個分組之間展開：集團組、金融
組、醫保組、大學組、大學校友組、社區組、俱樂部組、女子組，青少年組以及癌癥倖存者專賽。本年度龍
舟賽及節慶由波士頓龍舟節組委會主辦，由以下公司和單位贊助：香港紐約經濟貿易辦事處、道富銀行、華
人醫務中心、東方銀行, Bain Capital, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, 中國文化基金會、Gentle
Giants、SunLife等。組委會有以下協辦單位：麻州環保休閑部、麻州水利資源部、大波士頓中國文化協會、劍
橋市藝術委員會、萊克星頓高中、以及波士頓拉丁學校。
波士頓龍舟節的龍舟艦隊今年又增新船。感謝東方銀行爲龍舟節組委會捐贈一條新龍舟，顯示了雙方爲宣傳
亞洲文化以及促進大衆健康共同攜手努力。Trapology亦出資徹底翻新兩條龍舟，極大提高了組委會的龍舟質
量和船賽速度。六月六日五時，菩提禪修波士頓禪堂觀海禪師將親爲新船祈福。地點爲MIT船屋（409
Memorial Dr, Cambridge, MA 02139），歡迎媒體與大衆前往觀看。
龍舟比賽清晨開始，文化節目則午間開場。所有的活動均免費。贊助商、主辦方及特邀嘉賓將於十二時為龍
舟點睛。按照中國傳統習俗，龍在點睛之後騰飛昇起。為點睛儀式助威的是華林派的舞龍舞獅和大波士頓文
協的中華大鼓和腰鼓舞。
2025年龍舟節文藝演出很豐富， 亞洲各國表演包括韓國和中國傳統武術，以及傳統中國舞龍舞獅、韓國泰國
中國舞蹈、日式大鼓、京劇越劇表演、波士頓美少女歌舞隊，等等。大波士頓太極拳社、中國武術學校、小
獅子舞隊將帶來互動演示，請觀衆學習並參與太極和舞獅。除了曆年最受歡迎的大波士頓文協傳統手工製作
之外，龍舟節組委會還會給大家帶來各種亞洲遊戲與手工。今年亞洲美食攤位將有十七個商家，有韓國、越
南、泰國、印度、中國、菲律賓、日本等美食請大家前來品嘗，同時有應季冰品飲品、亞洲融合風味甜品等
。
六月初夏天氣炎熱，麻州水利資源部將於龍舟節現場設置飲用水站，免費供觀眾用自帶水瓶接水飲用。
每年農歷五月初五（陽歷五月下旬至6月中旬）的端午節是為了紀唸中國古代詩人愛國人士屈原（340-278
BCE）。作為楚國的政治領袖，屈原被認為是中國第壹家傑出的詩人。屈原失去了國王的青睞並且被被驅逐出
他的家鄉楚國，是因為他反對向強大的秦國妥協。在流亡期間，他寫的詩「離騷」顯示屈原對故國和人民的
極大忠誠。公元前278，屈原聽聞楚國已經被入侵。在絕望中他在汨羅江自盡。等楚國人趕到河裏去救他已經
來不及了，他們便裏粽子投向江水以紀唸屈原愛國的精神，同時也希望吃了粽子的魚兒們能夠讓屈原安息。
如今端午節龍舟賽已經成為世界上的壹項熱門運動和節慶，而北美的第壹箇龍舟節就是在1979年時始創於波
士頓，迄今四十六週年，2023年前來參加節慶並觀賽的觀眾增加至五萬人。 這個慶祝活動向美國和世界人民
介紹端午節龍舟賽，為推廣中國的以及亞洲的文化，發揮了巨大的作用。在大家的參與和支持下，波士頓龍
舟節會越辦越好。
詢問請找：
網址：www.bostondragonboat.org 國粵英語電話：(617) 259-0286 電子郵箱：info@bostondragonboat.org;org
國粵英語電話：(617) 259-0286 電子郵箱：info@bostondragonboat.org;