emlyon Dragon Boat Team Made A Splash on Suzhou Creek
Source：emlyon business schoolDate：2019-06-12
Honored as the only invited team from international education institution, emlyon business school dragon boat team participated in the 16th Shanghai International Suzhou Creek Dragon Boat Invitation Tournament on June 1st and 2nd. Co-sponsored by General Administration of Sport of China, Shanghai Social Sports Management Center, Shanghai Dragon Boat association, Shanghai Sports Bureau, Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau and People's Government of Shanghai Putuo district, the Shanghai International Suzhou Creek Dragon Boat Invitation Tournament is the largest event in celebration of Dragon Boat Festival. Held on Suzhou Creek, this tournament attracted 88 teams from 7 countries this year.
Dragon Boat Race in China
Dragon boat race is a traditional Chinese custom for the celebration of Dragon Boat Festival, dating back to the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). emyon business school dragon boat team marked themselves in festival this year in the traditional race, along with Chinese paddlers, in Shanghai.
01 Dragon Boat Tournament Spotlight
Composed with 14 international students and 1 alumni, emlyon team fulfilled the competition of 200 meters Preliminary, Semifinal, and Final with a time of 1’15.79, 1’16.03 and 1’14.16, and ranked No.6th in the international group. Compared with previous years, emlyon team made a huge progress in the dragon boat tournament this time.
As one of the most important activities in Asian Campus Semester, dragon boat racing helps international students dive into Chinese culture as well as build the spirit of “early maker”. Students are pleased to make acquaintance with competitors from different countries and areas. In addition to enjoying the sport competition, students also learnt to cooperate with each other as a team and formed a strong team in the race.
02 French Culture Exhibition
Apart from the fierce race, a multicultural exhibition was held in Mengqing Park along the creek over the weekend. Students of emlyon business school participated in this year’s exhibition and showcased French culture including French wine, French language, as well as French sport (Petanque) to the visitors.
03 Sharing and Expression
International Students and professors from emlyon dragon boat team were interviewed by mainstream media including shanghai daily and Oriental Sports Daily after the match, participants expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to take part in the race. They not only enjoyed the competition but also deepened their cultural understanding and enhanced team-work spirit. The “early maker” sprit stimulated by the competition will contribute to the students’ future development.
The race requires teamwork and discipline while the members must be precise and strong, and it’s also an important cultural experience in the Asia Campus Semester, when our students study in China.
▲Prof. FRIEDEMANN Christian, Deputy Director Program Asia (cited from Shanghai Daily)
We have been training for six weeks with team members from different master's programs of emlyon business school for the race. No matter whether we win any prize, we've put our best foot forward. The Suzhou Creek looks dynamic and beautiful and I was impressed by the large crowds on the riverbanks during the race.
▲MARTIN Gabriela, student from MSc in International Hospitality Management Program (cited from Shanghai Daily)
The dragon boat race was a great experience that I enjoyed a lot, meeting new people and discovering this sport was so cool. At first I joined the team because I wanted to discover Chinese culture and I found out that this game requires strong discipline and teamwork, which should be the culture value behind it and I would proud to say that I’m part of the team. I like china, it’s a beautiful country, different from what I expected before, it’s huge, clean and people are always kind to us.
▲LIM Arnaud, student from Specialized Master Program (cited from Oriental Sports Daily)
I enjoyed the game very much, I’m emlyon alumni who just came back from lyon and I’m glad to meet emlyon students in Asian Campus Program and expand my network in shanghai. Those international students are very nice French people. We formed a good team, a good cross-nation team, because we have the same mission and make our efforts together. My team members are motivated to do things actively, like training, warming up, sharing and discussing new strategies and we learnt a lot from each other.
▲WANG Jingjing, alumni from MSc program
I enjoyed the dragon boat race very much, it’s really cool to attend the race and to discover a Chinese traditional sport. It’s also quite interesting to see the evaluation of the team. I will say that I’ve seen the culture value of the dragon boat race too in the train and in the race. In the first month of shanghai semester, I saw that this city is well organized, clean and with many cultural experience to discover, I would like to recommend it to European people too.
▲JENCK Guillaume, student from Specialized Master Program
About Asian Campus Semester
The Asian Campus Semester programme was designed within the context of the development of emlyon business school’s activities in Asia. The program brings together international students from the emlyon business school and from local partner universities (East China Normal University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Tongji University, etc.) to achieve multicultural integration. Currently, approximately 700 international students come to the emlyon business school Asia campus each year to follow Asian campus semester program.