The opening ceremony of the dragon boat race, which falls on June 14 and 15, is held in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on June 14. [Photo by Qian Yao/chinadaily.com.cn]
Wuxi is hosting a dragon boat race on June 14-15 to mark the upcoming traditional Chinese holiday — the Dragon Boat Festival.
The competition will be held in the Lihu Lake Scenic Area in the south-west of Wuxi in Jiangsu province.
A total of around 40 teams and more than 600 players, which are mainly from local public institutions, finance associations, and politics and law associations, have signed up for the competition.
Besides those teams which have been competing in each race since 2016, including the team of Wuxi Culture & Tourism Development Group, there are also nine new teams from the bar association and a student team of Wuxi City College of Vocational Technology.
A team competing in the dragon boat race held on June 14 and 15 in Wuxi, Jiangsu province takes a group photo in front of the Lihu Lake, where the race goes. [Photo by Qian Yao/chinadaily.com.cn]
Jointly sponsored by the Wuxi municipal department of publicity, Wuxi Federation of Trade Unions, Wuxi sports bureau and Wuxi Culture & Tourism Development Group, the race has been held once a year since 2016.
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar to commemorate the famous poet Qu Yuan in China's Warring States Period (475-221 BC), and traditional activities that take place on the day include dragon boat races and eating zongzi, a type of rice dumpling.
