The 43rd Liouduei Games -- the oldest annual sporting event held in the Hakka region of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties -- opened yesterday for two days of competition in modern and traditional games.
Liouduei, meaning "six camps," is a collective name referring to 12 Hakka townships in the two counties. The region got its name from the six militia camps guarding the Hakka settlements during the Qing Dynasty.
"The Liouduei Games were originally a gathering for local militiamen to demonstrate their kung-fu skills," Huang Lu-wan (黃綠琬), a Council for Hakka Affairs official, said during a telephone interview.
Since militias were no longer needed, the annual activity was turned first into a tennis competition during the Japanese colonial period and then into an annual sports event 43 years ago, Huang said.
In addition to the usual torch-lighting ceremony and parade of athletes, 60 elementary schoolchildren performed a traditional dance called chudui (
"Chudui refers to the local militia marching out to meet the invading army," Huang said. "The children re-enacted this scene, but have turned chudui into an artistic dance."
Athletes will compete not only in modern sports like track and field, tennis, volleyball, table tennis, croquet and ice skating, but also traditional Hakka games, Huang said.
"Traditional games include a rice-sack relay, land dragon boat race and lion dance," Huang said, citing a few examples.
Participants in the rice-sack relay have to run while carrying a 20kg sack of rice on their back, a council statement said.
Teams competing in the land dragon boat race have five members each -- four rowers and one drummer. The four rowers would rotate, with each member rowing a distance of 30m each on land, instead of water. The team that finishes first wins, the council statement said.
In the lion dance contest, participants -- two members to a team dressed in a lion's costume made of wood and cloth -- dance to the beat of drums and race to grab a stalk of green, leafy vegetable hanging high above the ground.
"The Liouduei Games are unique to the Liouduei Hakka communities," Huang said.
"They are also a display of the local spirit," he said.
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