Dragon boat and Paddle blade experience for international students
Located near the XianXi reservior，The Xianxi campus of Foshan university is a beautiful scene. They are known for their Dragon boat institution, and also dragon boat team. They have also held many competitions related to dragon boat and paddle blade. In addition, our dragon boat team has been able to achieve many resilient results in competitions.
In April 23rd, we held an activity with professional coach XU,in order to make the international students can be more familiar with traditional culture of Dragon boat. This gave the international students a chance to experience the dragon boat and paddle blade.
PART 01
After continuous cloudy and rainy weather,，Foshan finally had exposure to the sun.The heavy sunshine did not influence the international students. Under the assistance of volunteers from English party branch,，all students met together in the North gate of JiangWan campus and rode the bus to the XianXi campus.
PART 02
During the Dragon boat introduction,，Coach XU first introduced the history of Dragon boat，and what he going to teach.
· Warm-up
· Clothes for emergency.
· How to hold the paddle and how to row.
· What they can and can’t do in the boat
· Situations in the boat.
· 
PART 03
Under the guide of coach Xu,，they got into the boat in an orderly fashion.It was the interpreter’s first time to be in the boat,，he was frightened.
It’s also the first time that international students was able to row a dragon boat. They can’t wait for their opportunity to row.
PART 04
Coach Xu pointed out the problem arised from proceeding of rowing，everybody learned quickly.Under the help of teammates in the dragon boat team.They rowed around the reservior,，came back with their own cheer.
PART 05
After the Dragon boat rowing,，coach Xu took everybody to the pier under the bridge，teaching them technic of paddle blade. Before we started,，coach Xu had told that the students who can not swim they are unable to join this activity because there is likelihood that they will fall into the water. But most of student were still able to join this.
showing the technic of paddle blade
With coach XU’s leading,，every students could row the paddle blade from kneeling position to standing position.There was no doubt that everyone fell into water，but they were able to swim and the lifeguard was on the pier. The paddle blade experience was a success.
Words from studens
DIEGO from Columbia
I think this activity is something special and awesome, because with this kind of activity we can learn more about the Chinese habits and culture. I alsoCan learn many new things that I never thought about doing. This is also a good feeling because you can share new things with your friends and meet some new people. This is not only just go and organizing the activity but is also time to get some fun and to know more about the fantastic Chinese culture. I really feel so grateful that my university let me learn something new and fun.
Luke from Australia
We were given a great opportunity to learn more about Chinese culture and have a first hand experience learning about the dragon boat festival.
For many of us, it was our first time checking out the new campus. Although far, it is well located near a big lake where we learned the ins and outs of rowing the dragon boat and how to work together as a team.
Our coach taught us the basic movements and slowly introduced different techniques and gave us information regarding best practices for safety. We were slow and out of pace in the beginning but after going through the different drills we quickly began to work together as a unit. We rowed in synchronously as our coach blew his whistle.
It was a great experience overall and we got to participate in other activities such as paddle boarding and swimming. We had a great time and look forward to learning about other Chinese events and cultural exchanges.
· END ·
Our university provides Chinese lessons and leisure activities.By this way, we hope to add more lessons about cultural experience,，making international students have a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.
We hoped that international students can experience Chinese traditional culture through the dragon boat and paddle blade experience.On the other hand,weseek to encourage some international students who have potential to build a international team.
With the advantage of location,we are looking forward to holding nationwide international students competitions concerning dragon boat and paddle blade.
