A ctiv­i­ties at the 16th An­nu­al Chi­nese Ar­rival Day Drag­on Boat Fes­ti­val dom­i­nat­ed at the Skally­wag Bay Ad­ven­ture Park, Ch­aguara­mas, on Oc­to­ber 15.

The event was pre­sent­ed by Chi­nese Bi­cen­ten­ni­al Lim­it­ed and the Trinidad and To­ba­go Drag­on Boat Fed­er­a­tion, in as­so­ci­a­tion with the Chi­nese Em­bassy.

The day fea­tured sev­er­al drag­on boat races in­volv­ing sec­ondary school and adult teams, as well as dis­plays of Chi­nese cul­ture by mem­bers of the Chi­nese Arts and Cul­ture So­ci­ety, and pop­u­lar Chi­nese cui­sine.

The fes­ti­val com­mem­o­rates the 217th an­niver­sary of the ar­rival of the first wave of Chi­nese mi­grants, who ar­rived in Trinidad on Oc­to­ber 12, 1806, on the ship For­ti­tude, which had dis­em­barked from Cal­cut­ta, In­dia, for the British East In­dia Com­pa­ny.

Of the 200 pas­sen­gers who set sail, 192 came from Macau, Penang, and Can­ton as free in­den­tured labour­ers to work in the sug­ar and co­coa plan­ta­tions. Oth­ers set­tled at Sur­veil­lance Es­tate in Co­corite, where they be­came fish­er­men, shop­keep­ers, shoe­mak­ers and ar­ti­sans.

Be­tween 1853 and 1866, a sec­ond larg­er wave of Chi­nese mi­gra­tion took place af­ter the abo­li­tion of slav­ery.