A dragon boat race has seen rivalry of teams from south China's Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, kicked off in Zhuhai City on Saturday to greet the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on June 10 this year. A total of 39 teams participated in this year's contest in Doumen District, including five teams from Hong Kong and Macao. "It is my first time to come here. I am astounded. There are so many people and it is so spectacular. I hope that all the delegations from Macao will come to the mainland for exchange and study in all sports events, which will help the progress of all sports in Macao," said a Macao resident. Next to the competition zone, the local authorities lined up a dragon boat folk culture exhibition for the spectators, displaying hundreds of precious collections related to dragon boat culture, not only enabling them to learn about the long history of dragon boat, but also attracting many foreign tourists to experience the excellent traditional Chinese culture.
Dragon boat racing is one of the traditional customs of the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival and one of the most important folk activities, particularly prevalent in southern China. The festival, also called Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
Dragon boat race sees rivalry from teams of Guangdong, HK, Macao
China has made great efforts to accelerate global progress towards a cleaner and more beautiful world, and is willing to share its experience in desertification prevention with all parties, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman at a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.
Monday marks the 30th World Desertification and Drought Day. This year the theme is "United for Land. Our Legacy. Our Future."
Lin introduced China's progress in combating drought and desertification in response to a reporter's question.
"China's efforts have accelerated global progress towards a cleaner and more beautiful world. We are the first country in the world to achieve zero net land degradation and reduce both desertification and sandification, making important contribution to meeting the global goal of zero net land degradation by 2030. China's forest coverage ratio and forest stock volume have both increased for 40 consecutive years. China leads the world in terms of forest resource growth and afforestation area, and has contributed one fourth of the world's newly added green area," said Lin.
China earnestly fulfills its obligations under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). It is dedicated to promoting global desertification control process, continuously advances international cooperation in desertification control, and generously shares successfull experience in combating desertification with the world, said Lin.
"Desertification is a common global challenge, and hand-in-hand efforts are the only route to address it. China is willing to continuously share experience in drought and desertification prevention with all parties, enhance exchanges on sustainable land management, and make concerted efforts in building a beautiful homestead harmonizing humanity and nature," said Lin.
China willing to share experiences in desertification prevention: spokesman
