On the afternoon of June 6^th, Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival), the first dragon boat race was held by Zhejiang Provincial Civilization Office, Hangzhou, and Zhejiang University in the Hong Park of Hangzhou Xixi National Wetland Park. Six first-class domestic universities were invited to the race, namely Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nanjing University and Zhejiang University.

The dragon boat race is one of the major activities of 2011 Hangzhou Xixi Dragon Boat Festival. On the ceremony of cultural festival, Deputy Party Secretary of Hangzhou Ming Ye, declared the activity open. Jinzhu Kun, member of Hangzhou Municipal Committee and Party Secretary of Yuhang District, and Qiang Zheng, Deputy Party Secretary of Zhejiang University also gave an address. Yinyi Gong, Deputy Director of Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department and Minister of Provincial Civilization Office, and Xiaodon Zou, Deputy Party Secretary of Zhejiang University, attended the ceremony.

“Wuchang dragon boat race” was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage in 2008 and is a unique local folklore celebration of dragon boat festival with a history of about 500 years. It inherits ancient folk customs and promotes tradition. This year, the participation of dragon boat teams from 6 prestigious universities helps highlight the traditional folk culture of Chinese Duanwu festival and bring vitality to it. On the opening ceremony, members from the 6 teams pour a bottle of water brought from 6 universities respectively.

The race took the form of straight race of 800 meters. Teams were divided into two groups; each team consisted of 6 male rowers and 4 female rowers and 1 steersman and 1 drummer. Each team demonstrated their skills, speed, trim and unity. The race attracted a large audience from near and afar to cheer for the teams. Cheering, shouting, cheering, drum sound, and slogan intertwined. Hai Wu, Director of Department of Public Physical Education from Zhejiang University School of Education introduced, “The marks of the six dragon boat teams are good, while the quickest spent 7 minutes 16 seconds. This speed is quite well comparing with the professional team of Yuhang Wuchang. "

This event focused on participation instead of ranking. Tsinghua University team won the Best Popularity Award, Zhejiang University team and Nanjing University team the Fighting Spirit Award, Shanghai Jiaotong University team the Best Teamwork Award, Peking University team the Best Fashion Award and Fudan University team the Best Organization Award.

It’s reported that dragon boat race for Chinese universities will be held every year in Hangzhou, while the dragon boat race for world universities is in preparation.