Reduced demand due to Covid-19 has dampened business for dragon boat manufacturers in Shangjiao village in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong province in the past few years. Photo: Liang Yingfei/Caixin

Workers restore an old dragon boat at the workshop. With a dragon boat-making history of more than 140 years, Shangjiao village is one of the oldest manufacturing bases in Guangzhou. Photo: Liang Yingfei/Caixin

A senior worker polishes a boat at the workshop. The work requires advanced skills and physical strength, and the craft has trouble attracting new recruits. Photo: Liang Yingfei/Caixin

Shoes and clothes are placed on a pile of wood. Those boats are usually made from water-resistant giam or lightweight Chinese fir. Photo: Liang Yingfei/Caixin

A shrine is set up inside the workshop. During the early 1980s, the village had over 30 workshops that would sell boats in domestic and overseas markets. Photo: Liang Yingfei/Caixin

Due to the pandemic, many dragon boat factories in the village closed temporarily, leaving only six in production. Photo: Liang Yingfei/Caixin

Workshops are all built along the waterway in the village where new boats can be tried and tested. Photo: Liang Yingfei/Caixin

Impacted by Covid-19, most of this year’s dragon boat races in villages across Guangdong have been suspended. Photo: Liang Yingfei/Caixin

Residents lift a dragon boat out of the water in Foshan, South China’s Guangdong province, in 2016. As a traditional activity of the Dragon Boat Festival, dragon boat racing began in southern China more than 2,500 years ago and has been introduced to countries like Japan, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. Photo: VCG

Residents participate in dragon boat racing during the Dragon Boat Festival in 2013 in Shunde, South China’s Guangdong province. The festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which falls in late May or early June each year. China listed the activity as part of its intangible cultural heritage in 2011. Photo: VCG

Racers steer a dragon boat along the Pearl River in Guangzhou in June 2019. Photo: VCG