Dragon boat races light up Beijing’s Grand Canal during vibrant festival weekend

With 2000 years of history, this dragon boat race marked a 16 per cent increase in average visitors to Hong Kong. Pic/PTI

Saturday witnessed crowds gathered to watch dragon boat races held along the northern section of the Grand Canal in Tongzhou, on the outskirts of Beijing to watch the highlight of a Chinese festival. With over 2000 years of history this is the iconic dragon boat race.

Crews powdered their dragon boats through the water, following their drummer's rhythm, racing to become the first to reach the finish line while residents and tourists cheered them on. The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as "Tuen Ng" in Cantonese, is linked to a legend about commemorating a patriotic official in ancient times who drowned himself after losing his leader's favour with his kingdom's decline. Villagers rushed to the river with boats to search for his body, throwing rice dumplings into the river to prevent fish from eating him.
Both dragon boating and rice dumplings have become the festival's traditions.

The festival is celebrated in mainland China and Taiwan, alongside countries like Singapore and Malaysia that have a large Chinese community. The government previously estimated that about 380,000 mainland Chinese tourists would visit the city during a three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday break starting Saturday, marking a 16 per cent increase in daily average visitor arrivals.

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