It is dragon boat racing season once again in China, but many Zhucun Village rowers in southern Guangzhou City don't appear too happy with the celebration. Instead of anticipating the splashes of water that come with dragon boat racing, rowers are struggling to keep the water away from their bodies, according to The Namibia Press Agency.

Like Us on Facebook

"The water is too dirty. I saw a dead mouse in there once, and every time I think of it, I feel itchy all over," according to a student rower from Sun Yat-sen University.

Also known as Duanwu jie, celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival is held at the every fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar of the Chinese. This year, it's June 20, according to CCTV America.

Tradition of the festival hails from fishermen way back who have raced in order to save fallen statesman. It commemorates the death of a poet/minister named Qu Yuan from the Warring States period, who killed himself in Central China's Miluo River.

Traditional longboats are used for the races, which is considered the centerpiece celebration of the festival.

The races can reportedly take up the whole lunar month of May in Guangzhou. The villages host the races in relay style.

To feel the atmosphere of the joyous occassion, decorations, and fireworks are used. However, the polluted water and continuing  public awareness of river pollution in the river has continued to dampen the spirits of the people.

"Look at these guys; they must be dummies to row in such stinky water," said one tourist.

Pan Jianming, 49, have long celebrated the festival, having been a rower since he was 14 years old. This year, he is organizer of the event.

"Dragon boat racing is a celebratory reminder of our culture and our roots. It is an exchange between villages and an important occasion for family gatherings," said Pan.

However, he doesn't deny that ceremonial practices have changed in the past years since people are more aware of the harmful effects of polluted water.

In Zhucun, 80 dragon boats and more have arrived from different villages.

"Wherever the dragon boat went, people used to scoop up the water it had been through to wash babies, to ward off evil or misfortune. Nobody uses water from the river on babies anymore. We use bottled water for that purpose," according to Pan.

Still, some of the elderly insist on honoring the ceremony on the "sacred water," albeit more cautiously.

On the Dragon Boat Festival Saturday, seniors were seen scooping the rust-colored into bowls and spilling a few drops on their feet.

"You see, only us old men are doing this," said 66-year-old Chen Julin. "Contaminated water won't drive away disease. Many people even worry about catching disease from it in fact."

Pan said he was ashamed before when rowers from other villages came to Zhucun. Apparently, it wasn't only in their area that waters were polluted.

"But when we went to participate in other races, the water there was no better than ours!" he said.

He added that though most waterways are clean and considered safe for the races, some larger rivers branching from the Pearl River aren't.

By late 2014, the Guangzhou City Environmental Protection Bureau has branded 16 local rivers and two reservoirs in the area as contaminated. These bodies of water contain excessive phosphorus as well as other chemicals, according to China Daily.

The average quality of the Guangzhou River reportedly barely meets the second-worst grade in "for common industrial use only, not for direct contact with human bodies" in China's five grades for surface water.

The city has already spent US$16.1 billion from 2013 to 2016 to fight pollution in the river. Unfortunately, the budget wasn't enough as industrial wastes are increasing.

In Yangji, there has been a massive cleanup, but the river there is still not for swimming, though the stench has gone.

According to the Guangzhou government, the national "Head of the River" scheme will be adopted to hold one official responsible per river.

As for the rowers in the Dragon Boat Festival, they could only hope the new measure will be effective to combat water pollution.

"Dragon boat racing stems from our love of the water, but now we're afraid of the water. This is ironic. I just hope I can race in cleaner water soon," said 21-year-old rower, Chen Haolin.

TagsDragon Boat Festival, dragon boat festival water woes, Guangzhou City, dragon boat festival water, dragon boat festival polluted river, Duanwu jie, dragon boat festival china