Shanghai Daily news

Expats thinking about taking up dragon boat racing should consider joining the ShangLong Dragon Boat Club set up six years ago to promote the traditional Chinese sport among Shanghai's growing international community.
Members of the club come from all over the world and its crew is known locally as the ``United Nations dragon boat team.'' Paddlers come from China, Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain and the United States. In 2002, ShangLong members travelled throughout China and as the Shanghai International Friends Dragon Boat Team competed at regattas in Ningbo, Jiaxing -- both in Zhejiang Province, and Yichang in Hubei Province, of course, back home in Shanghai. The following year the club traveled to Nanjing of Jiangsu Province and to Jilin Province for races before returning to Shanghai and taking part in the ``Love of China'' race on Suzhou Creek, once again competing as the Shanghai International Friends Dragon Boat Team. The club's 2004 race schedule included events in Hong Kong and Changzhou of Jiangsu Province as well as in Nanjing and then back to Shanghai's Qingpu District and Suzhou Creek. This year, the club hopes to add races in Yichang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Osaka in Japan to the normal slate of local events. The club, a member of the Shanghai Rowing Canoeing Yachting Association, now has more than 100 members and practices at the Shanghai Water Sports Center in Qingpu. The Shanghai Water Sports Association is the club's major supporter. For more information contact: dragonboatsh@yahoo.com.