Dragon boat races held in southern Chinese cities to celebrate Duanwu Festival

Several southern Chinese cities have kicked off exciting dragon boat races to celebrate the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, attracting local and overseas teams to compete in the fun-filled and adrenaline-pumping water sports.

Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on May 31 this year, known as the Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar to commemorate ancient Chinese patriotic poet Qu Yuan (about 340-278 BC).

In Nanchang City of east China's Jiangxi Province, an international dragon boat race kicked off Friday in the Jiulong Lake waters, attracting 50 dragon boat teams from home and abroad and more than 1,500 people to participate. The overseas teams come from Russia, the UK, Germany, and Pakistan.

The paddlers on large canoe-like vessels fitted with ornately carved dragon's heads and tails were cheered up by pounding drums and enthusiastic crowds.

"I watch the dragon boat race every year. Seeing the racers forging ahead bravely and in unison, I feel a special strength," said Xiong Shaohui, a viewer.

The dragon boat race has three categories: 33-person dragon boats for a county or district group, 22-person dragon boats for an open group, and 12-person dragon boats for a college group. The competition lasts for two days on an 800-meter-long course.

"Today's competition was very fierce. We had to do our best in every paddling. We were greatly motivated by the cheers from the audience. A dragon boat race is not only a sport but also a cultural heritage. We hope that more people will feel the charm of dragon boat races," said Liu Yang, an Anyi County dragon boat team member.

In Huanggang City of central China's Hubei Province, another boat race opened on Saturday, with 30 teams from the province splashing their oars in the water during the two-day event.

Each boat seated 22 members, including a drummer beating time to keep the paddlers in unison and a helmsman in the stern to guide the boat. The onlookers at the river banks roared in cheering to make the atmosphere more exciting.

This dragon boat race now draws wider participants. This year, three major groups of enthusiasts from universities, enterprises, institutions, dragon boat associations, and social organizations in Hubei competed in six events. There are also female participants.

Dragon boat races held in southern Chinese cities to celebrate Duanwu Festival

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight