Dry surface ‘dragon boat’ race in Harbin, Heilongjiang, on June 20, 2015. [Photo by Cai Meng/Xinhua]

A special “dragon boat” competition was hosted in a park in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, for the Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival, on June 20 this year, and it differed from the conventional race on water that Chinese are familiar in that it involved dragon-slippers made of board and a fast walk to the finish.

There were 16 groups from local universities, such as Heilongjiang University, Heilongjiang Institute of Technology, and Harbin University of Commerce, as well as companies and institutions, taking part in the fast walk on a 25-meter track. But, just as in the case of the boat race, they shouted out a cadence to keep pace so that, any participant who lost the beat could cause the whole team to fail.

And the winners were: the Heilongjiang Construction College team who also pocketed 2,000 yuan ($321) for their effort after a fierce race.