The Lost Boat Race 消亡的赛艇

The BNY Mellon Oxford Cambridge Boat Race

The Boat Races of 2013 have proved a bad harvest for Cambridge rowers. However, this post doesn't relate to last sunday's unfortunate result on the Thames or the previous Sunday's races in Eton Dorney. By 'the lost Boat Race', I mean the annual rowing competition between Beijing (Peking) University and Qinghua (Tsinghua) University, the elite institutions of China's higher education.

Back in 1999, Beijing and Qinghua competed in their first varsity rowing match, in the hope it would create a tradition as prestigious and enduring as the race between Oxford and Cambridge. The original Boat Race, which is now past its 159th year, is such an established convention that it is now spawning parallel traditions of its own. Take for example the Oxford Cambridge Goat Race, now in its 5th year, which takes place at the same time as the Boat Race, for those more interested in farm animals than boats. The Goat Race looks like it may persist longer than the Beijing Qinghua Boat Race, which trailed off after its 10th tournament in 2010.

The Beijing Qinghua Boat Race in action

To glean a more complete explanation, the following is my translation of extracts from a Chinese article on both Boat Races (original found here, author Zhang Lei 张蕾, from China Newsweek Magazine 14/7/2010) 

The Boat Race: Oxford vs Cambridge for over a century, Beijing vs Qinghua for just 11 years

It is said Beijing and Qinghua have always only recognised themselves as the best, and will not admit to being second, so the position of 'China's second best university' has remained vacant. That was until one day in 1999, when they found a new way to judge their relative standings: rowing. Why they picked a sport the Chinese are unfamiliar with could be because of the power and prestige of the two famous universities of Oxford and Cambridge, who also compete in this sport, as "Rowing is a symbol of an international world class university". Eleven years later, this 'symbol' still has not taken shape, and has already dissolved.

Zhang Lei: I still bear the image in my memory; the sun glittering off the waves of the Kunyu river, the two boats each seating eight young men of 190cm in height. Each team's cheering squadron filled a dozen or more cars to help them in the clash, the bulletin boards of social media were bubbling over, the banks were completely packed with crowds of spectators. There was also the TV broadcast and the media's journalists - they were all watching China's two top universities, Beijing and Qinghua, battle it out in a boat race.

Zhang Heng: In this tableau full of hopes and expectations, you can imagine countless people shouting you encouragement, cheering you on. This scene could be repeated in 50 years, in 80 years, and in reaching its 100th year, the feeling of pride would be like no other.

Zhang Lei and Zhang Heng joined the Qinghua and Beijing rowing squads in 2000 and 2003 respectively. They were the same as other successfully selected young people, they all bore the dream to compete in rowing for their hundred year old institutions. This glorious aspiration was born in 1999. Perhaps the initiators of the competition hoped from that moment on, being a student of Beijing or Qinghua would become part of the blood or a gene. Also, the race could give students of Beijing and Qinghua more links with Oxford and Cambridge.

That said, in 2010, only one tenth of the century old boat race dream was reached and the Beijing Qinghua Boat Race was heading for its demise.

In winter 181 years ago, Cambridge student Charles Merrivale and Oxford student Charles Wordsworth had a sudden idea and wanted to compete against each other in a boat race. Consequently, on the 10th of March 1829 (original said 1892 which is wrong), Cambridge issued Oxford with a challenge stating, "the University of Cambridge hereby challenge the University of Oxford to row a match at or near London, each in an eight-oared boat during the ensuing Easter vacation", from Mr Snow of St. Johns college Cambridge.

On the 10th June of the same year, the two universities held the race for the first time, producing a lasting rivalry. Over 180 years later, and every year since except during wartime (inaccurate, only became an annual competition in 1856), the cream of English society gathered by the Thames (inaccurate, originally held in Henley upon Thames) to discuss the boat races teams as heroes. On the day of the race, around hundreds of thousands of English would line the river to watch, and the banks lining the race route became places for parties. Eventually, the varsity match became an important part of London's social calendar, alongside the Chelsea Flower Show, the Windsor Horse races (Ascot?), and Wimbledon.    

In 1999, Beijing and Qinghua hoped to emulate Oxford and Cambridge, and introduced a boat race varsity match. Just like the original Boat Race, the crews of both Chinese universities rose to an historic occasion. In order to find squads for the competition, both Beijing and Qinghua conducted 'urgent selections', choosing Sports Studies students and ordinary students whose physique corresponded to the demands of rowing. In Qinghua, the boat race crew was not formed until June, after which they only had one month of gruelling training before the match.

So a sinified Boat Race, between the two most famous Chinese education establishments, came into being on 28th July 1999. Those invited to the grand occasion, unfolding on Beijing's Kunyu river, included the bureau chief of the National Office of Sports, Wu Shaozu, the Politburo members Jia Qinglin and Liu Qi, as well as numerous Beijing city officials of the time.

Varsity matches of such a high standard are rarely seen in China (I love how this refers to the quality of the spectators and not the sport!). However, in the course of the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race history, a member of the royal family has even presented the award. Although it is impossible to copy the manner in which the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race came about, from the perspective of leader's values and managing the competition's standards, both Beijing and Qinghua still managed to accomplish following an international example.

In fact, on a morning 10 days before the race, Beijing and Qinghua competed against each other in Langqidao, Fuzhou city. Moreover, even earlier, on the 20th of March, the provincial government of Fujian province signed an agreement with both universities expressing the hope that the Beijing Qinghua Boat Race could become a long-lasting competition, thus the aspiration for 'one hundred years' was created.

By chance, this caught the public's imagination, thanks to Beijing University's recent 100 year anniversary and Qinghua University's approaching 90 year anniversary. Both institutions affirmed a "one hundred year competition", despite its origin and location all in a state of uncertainty. However, the competition still attracted widespread attention.

The People's Daily wrote this analysis of the mood behind Beijing and Qinghua's boat race; "Beijing University and Qinghua University have fallen in love with the boat race as a sporting event. These two  universities hope to eventually advance into the community of the world's top class educational establishments".

Liu Xingyu, a member of the 2000 Qinghua boat race crew, said, "Beijing and Qinghua have realised that in the course of their progress to becoming internationally famous institutions, they need these kind of credentials, they need a platform to exhibit themselves, they need something to close the gap between themselves and other famous universities and a way to shake hands." Liu is now a sports commentator for CCTV. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, while commentating on the Chinese women's quad's surprise gold, Liu was so excited that he lost his voice.  

....  

From about 2004, the progress of the Beijing Qinghua Boat Race started to lose its way and waver.

Liu Xingyu remembers that in 2004 Beijing University wanted to redress the previous year's result, of course, this should have been a good thing, as both sides had suffered victories and defeats. The race was able to go ahead smoothly, but he also feels that the atmosphere surrounding the match had changed, "Beijing University could not bear to suffer defeat, Qinghua also bore the same heavy burden; both sides were afraid of losing."

The difference was also felt by Zhang Hengquan. During the course of his training with Beijing's squad, there were a few curious happenings - sometimes while rowing on the water, they would see a man crouching under a bridge, clutching a video camera and filming them train. Other times they would see someone cycling along the bank, trying to pick a fight. Zhang says this was their opponents spying on them, conducting "military reconnaissance". He adds, "these tactics were a problem in every team's mentality, but it lead to the deterioration of the competition as a whole and perhaps it over-intensified the feeling of the tournament."

As for the suspicious incidents, Qinghua completely denied them. Unsurprisingly, this matter reduced the competitive atmosphere between both teams to duplicity and deviousness. Everyone felt the other side should take responsibility for the worsening mood, while also maintaining their side was committed to the outcome of the race.

In Britain and America, students participate in rowing because they like the sport, to develop themselves, to prove themselves, and to foster team spirit. Zhang Hengquan compares this to his experience, saying, "but in our team, you could sense the reason why we were rowing, just for the sake of winning that one race."

Under the brewing atmosphere, the varsity boat race continued to 2008, where on the 30th August it was held on Yundang Lake, Xiamen city. According to the description of one Beijing rower in the boat at the time, they looked across to their opponents and saw a boat full of new faces, and were immediately suspicious. Firstly, as both universities had not yet officially started the new term, new students were not allowed to participate. Secondly, those without any training in rowing were also not allowed to participate. Thirdly, he said, "we were quite familiar with every professional crew, and that crew was definitely professional."

For the Beijing team, it was a grave violation of the agreement to use professional sportsmen. So Beijing University reasoned it was impossible to accept Qinghua's boat race squad. A meeting of the organising committee eventually ruled that Qinghua had indeed breached the rules, invalidating the result of the race. As originally it was Qinghua who won, Beijing become the new victors.

Wang Qi, who witnessed that embarrassing ruling, said, "since then, friction gradually developed between the two sides." Wang remembers that evening there was also a celebratory dinner, but Qinghua did not attend.

Yet another scandal flared up in 2009, but this time is was Beijing who was scorched.

Zhao Peng recalls on National Day (October 1st) 2009, the race was split over two days. He said, "on the first day of racing, [we] were faster than the Beijing crew by 10 seconds." The next day the crews lined up for the second race, and Qinghua came first again without exerting much energy. Zhao called it "relaxed rowing". When the Beijing crew arrived to claim second place, he saw that they had been "rowing for their lives", adding, "we (Qinghua) were totally astonished."

"After the race the Beijing crew climbed ashore, and we asked what had happened. They said one of their sportsmen had injured his lower back and so they wanted to shelve the result of the match, which we resolutely disagreed with. Beijing then said they would swap out [the injured man] for a professional, with which we also disagreed. Beijing University then forfeited," Zhao recounted. Given the circumstances that Beijing University had not officially competed, Qinghua was crowned as the victor of 2009.

According to media reports, after the 2009 boat race the Tianjin Municipal Government was obliged by contract to host a celebratory dinner. At the dinner, in front of Tianjin government officials, leaders of the Centre for Water sports, the heads of both Beijing and Qinghua Universities and many other esteemed guests, the Beijing squad demanded a rematch from the 'plagiarisers' (请枪手参赛). This matter was deemed inappropriate, and according to someone present at the dinner, "the face of Beijing University's principal remained aghast for some time."

Both sides were punctilious over the competitions rules and the opposition's ethics and integrity. The principals of each institution alternatively lost face, and each team became more and more agitated by the outcome of the match.

Wang Qi felt that the situation was just like "two people contending against each other; the more they compete, the more petty they become, until eventually both of them are unable to live."

In reality, the harm had already been done. A few years ago, when the secretary of Qinghua's Party committee, Chen Xi, gave a lecture to graduate students, he more or less stated that he wanted to cancel the varsity boat race. Chen believed the costs of the competition were too high, and this type of sports event was not worthwhile for colleges or universities.

According to Beijing and Qinghua Universities 2010 report on 'Establishing Sporting Events of High Standards', the annual expenditure of the Qinghua rowing club was 500,000RMB, while Beijing's was approximately 940,000RMB (this figure includes Beijing University's sports fund and sponsorship funds for companies), with an average spend of 41,000RMB per person per year. The investment in the Beijing Qinghua Boat Race per person was several times that of the investments in other sports. For example, the Beijing University Athletics team receives 16,800RMB per person per year.

The truth was the boat race 'burned money', and that made the outcome of the match even more controversial.

In the middle of last year, the former captain of Qinghua's rowing team, Liu Xingyu, who had graduated 5 years previously, received a letter. The letter was inviting old team members back to Qinghua for a meeting to give advice for the future development of the boat race squad.

During the meeting, Liu exchanged pleasantries with the deputy director of the university's sports department. From just a few phrases, Liu was able to guess the real meaning behind the meeting, so he asked directly, "Is the purpose of today's meeting to discuss whether or not to continue the boat race, or  because you want to discuss how to manage it well? If it is the former, then we have nothing to discuss." The deputy director gave him a thorough explanation, but didn't manage to dispel Liu's doubts.

After a short while, his suspicions were proved correct. At the end of 2009, Liu and his old teammates found out the Qinghua sports department had cancelled recruitment for the rowing event. "I think this shows the boat race was going to wither away naturally," says Liu. If they don't recruit for two years in a row, and the older members graduate, the remaining rowers won't have enough people to fill an eight. This way, the rowing squad will involuntarily disband.

From the perspective of the director of Beijing University's  Sports Teaching and Research Department, Hao Guangan, the north of China lacks suitable training locations. The toll of training outside all year on a student's academic work and the vast financial investment are both reasons for cancelling recruitment for the boat race. Qinghua University also holds the same attitude towards these aspects.

The party committee's deputy secretary in charge of sports, Chen Xu, said she was unsure as to whether this year would still have a varsity boat race between the two universities.

Currently, both universities' rowing teams haven't yet stopped training. Liu Xingyu says, "they are still preparing for a race that may or may not happen."

Perhaps the outside world sees the old, lofty dream of a one hundred year old boat race between Beijing and Qinghua has possibly already perished. Those who expected a continuance of the competition's flourishing first year, when everyone joined together, would only see what at first was praise become criticism. The acclaim now solely comes from Xinhua News Agency (A government run news agency). Other commentators believe trampling on competition's regulations led to rot and eventually ruin. Both universities took the lead in crying for restrictions on race conduct, but they 'were aware of the fine line between disgrace and bravery' (If anyone else can come up with a better translation for 知耻近乎勇 I would be greatly obliged).

Beijing University's Sports Teaching and Research Department's deputy director, Liu Zheng, rejected an interview with China's Newsweek Magazine. Revealing his complicated feelings in his speech, he declared, "this matter has been very painful in itself, and the media are still exposing scars. It all happened over six months ago, we shouldn't talk about it anymore."

Hao Guangan revealed, "at one stage Beijing University was focused on the development of the varsity boat race, but now we have started to focus on developing basketball."

Probably no one cares about those few students who were moulded by the boat race, and how they feel about this. Rowers possess a similar height (around 190cm) and weight (around 90kg) to that of basketball players. However, day after day, rowers repeat an identical rowing motion. The moment they climb into a boat, they put aside their individuality and become a row of well ordered coins (Haven't heard that metaphor used in the BBC Boat Race coverage!). Rowers are required to have unswerving determination, and obey the collective. Beijing and Qinghua's rowers hope when they return to their alma maters in decades to come, there will be a place where they feel they belong. But right now no one knows if there will even be a rowing team to come back and visit.

Beijing and Qinghua's model, the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race on the Thames, well, they have flipped boats, not passed on awards, broken the rules, there have been chains of more than a dozen successive victories, once there was even a dead heat. There have been endless debates over details of the regulations, they've had lottery funding and torrential rain. They've had it all, but the Boat Race has still been held close to 160 times, lasting through two world wars. Future photographers, politicians, comedians, actors, playwrights and Olympic champions have all taken part in this historic sporting event.

For Beijing and Qinghua, their boat race had only just begun, but it seems to have already come to an end.