A dragon boat race will be held as a demonstration sport at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics, said Thomas Konietzko, president of the International Canoe Federation (ICF) recently.
Konietzko has credited the inclusion to collaborative efforts between the ICF and China Media Group (CMG), supported by the International Olympic Committee.
At a launch ceremony of CMG's gala celebrating Dragon Boat Festival held in Beijing on Thursday, Konietzko conveyed his best wishes to the Chinese people via video link and celebrated the global popularity of dragon boat race, as well as the upcoming ICF Dragon Boat World Cup and the first International Super Cup of Canoe and Kayak in China.
The ICF Dragon Boat World Cup is scheduled to take place in Zigui County, central China's Hubei Province in October. Zigui is renowned as the birthplace of Qu Yuan (about 340 BC-278 BC), a loyal statesman and a patriotic poet in Chu, which was a major state in the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). The Dragon Boat Festival is a day to commemorate Qu Yuan. The first International Super Cup of Canoe and Kayak will be held in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, in October.
This year's CMG's dragon boat race will kick off in the city of Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu Province, during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, which runs from June 8 to 10.
As a representative of Chinese culture, the dragon boat race serves as a traditional practice during the Dragon Boat Festival to honor the life and legacy of poet Qu Yuan. This festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar Chinese calendar.
Dragon boat race listed as demonstration sport at Paris Olympics
The United States should take concrete actions to implement the common understandings reached with China and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese journalists who work and live there, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
Mao made the remarks in response to a U.S. State Department spokesperson's claim that China did not guarantee U.S. journalists the same rights that it is expecting from U.S. authorities for those attached to Chinese media outlets.
"The U.S. side talks about reciprocal treatment, which is exactly China's concern. It is the United States that started the media issue. Since the two sides reached three points of common understanding, the Chinese side has fully implemented them and provided various facilitation including visas for U.S. journalists to come to China for coverage. In contrast, basic reporting rights of Chinese journalists stationed in the United States have been severely restricted. Almost no Chinese journalist has been granted the opportunity for on-the-ground coverage at the White House. Their visas and residence permits are often delayed for no justifiable reason, while many have been forced to return to China. Chinese journalists' applications for short-term reporting assignments in the United States are rarely approved. Could this be a reciprocal treatment?" said Mao.
"The U.S. side talks about freedom of speech, yet Chinese media in the U.S. are labeled with the political tags 'foreign agent' and 'foreign mission'. Is this what the United States calls freedom of speech? The United States should take concrete steps to implement common understandings reached with China and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese journalists working and living in the U.S.," said the spokeswoman.
China urges U.S. to ensure rights of Chinese reporters based in U.S.
