Old Keelung fishermen to join the race

The elderly members of the Sanjiaotu Fishermen's Dragon Boat Team train on Taipei's Keelung River yesterday. They will race a team led by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou in an exhibition race. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

This year in a exhibition event, one of the oldest teams ever to compete in the Taipei International Dragon Boat Race Championships (台北國際龍舟錦標賽) will show their colors. They will be competing against the Taipei City Government Team, which will be lead by Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

With a combined age of 1,326 years, the 21 members of the Sanjiaotu Fishermen's Dragon Boat Team (三腳渡龍舟隊) are in a strong position to capture attention simply because of the age of the competitors, which averages over 60. Another reason they deserve recognition is that they constitute some of the last people in Taipei who until very recently still made their living from the Keelung River.

As the men prepared to do a display run in a newly crafted dragon boat yesterday afternoon, the Taipei fire brigade team was packing up after a training session. The tall, muscular young men could not have been more of a contrast to the generally diminutive stature of their elders. The elderly men were unfazed, however, and with considerable pride tied on red headbands to proclaim their identity.

Many of these men have lived by the now polluted river, and remember the days when they worked as fishermen. When the fish began to disappear, they made a meager living harvesting red earthworms, which are used as feed on eel farms in Japan. Now, with increased pollution, even that source of income is drying up.

"Some of them may have competed in such events in their youth," said Tzeng Wen-bang (曾文邦) of the Taiwan Shui Art Group (台灣水創意會社), one of the figures behind the formation of the Sanjiaotu team. "But this is the first time that they have got together to do something like this."

This is the second major event involving elderly fishermen who have lived most of their lives on or near the banks of the Keelung River not far from the Jiantan MRT station.

The community first gained official recognition in December last year with the Sanjiaotu Riverside Arts Festival (三腳渡親水藝術節), a celebration of Taipei's now extinct river culture, organized by the Shui Art Group in cooperation with the city government.

A further claim to fame for this small band of men is that it claims Liu Ching-cheng (劉清正), one of the country's foremost traditional shipwrights, as one of its own. Liu built the dragon boat that will be paddled by his peers.

There are few traditional shipwrights working in Taiwan now, as most fishermen use boats built of fiberglass. Shaping wooden paddles for numerous teams at his makeshift workshop at Sanjiaotu, Liu said that now there is little work for him.

"But just ten years ago, maybe 70 out of every 100 boats up at the mouth of the Tamsui River -- where they catch whitebait -- were my handiwork," he said.

While the elderly fishermen won't be competing for any of the competition's prizes, their presence is a reminder that the Keelung River is an organic part of Taipei City and its history.

In an effort to preserve what is left of their community, the Sanjiaotu Cultural Development Association (三腳渡文化發展協會) will formally open on June 24 to continue activities that began with the Sanjiaotu Riverside Arts Festival last year.

The exact time of the exhibition race has not yet been announced but will take place during the three full days of the competition between June 23 and June 25. The races are held on the Tachia section of the river beneath the Tachih Bridge.