Taipei holds dragon boat championships to celebrate Duanwu Festival

China

Taipei holds dragon boat championships to celebrate Duanwu Festival

2025-06-01 17:09 Last Updated At：17:37

The 2025 Taipei International Dragon Boat Championships were held in Taiwan from Friday to Sunday, celebrating this year's Dragon Boat Festival, which fell on Saturday.

Amid the thunderous beat of drums and enthusiastic cheers, contestants in the dragon boat championships powered through the Keelung River in Taipei, paddling with fierce determination to claim the lead.

The three-day competition drew 221 teams and over 5,000 athletes. Participants competed in men's, women's, and mixed divisions, racing in both large and small dragon boats, according to the organizer.

Before the race, the competitors energized themselves with spirited cheers. One of the racers Chen Hsueh-mei said that although her team lacks race experience and just received one month of training, they still enjoyed themselves in the event.

"We will play hard and enjoy this race," said Chen, the only racer who has some experience in the team.

"We are supper excited to be here, thrilled. We are coming from Okinawa, Japan, so we flew in yesterday, and we are just stoked to be here," said another racer named Pattran.

The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, commemorates renowned Chinese patriotic poet Qu Yuan, who was also a minister of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475 B.C.-221 B.C.).

In addition to the dragon boat races, a rich array of cultural activities related to the festival were also held, including on-land dragon boat experiences and egg-balancing contests.

"I took part in the dribbling game and I did for 110 times. In my school, my classmates and teachers taught me stories about Qu Yuan," said a local child.

S Africa declares national disaster as flooding batters northern region

South Africa's National Disaster Management Centre declared a national disaster on Sunday as heavy rains and flooding continued to batter northern parts of the country.

According to local media reports, continuous rainfall since late December has caused severe flooding in Limpopo Province, where at least 17 people, including two children, have died. Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa said in a statement on Sunday that 20 people had been killed in flood-related incidents in Mpumalanga Province.

More than 1,600 homes and 31 schools have been affected in Limpopo, while over 1,000 homes in Mpumalanga have suffered varying degrees of damage. The flooding has also forced the partial closure of Kruger National Park, one of Africa's largest wildlife reserves, with more than 600 visitors evacuated after rising waters inundated access roads and campsites.

The South African National Defence Force has deployed two helicopters to assist with rescue operations and evacuate residents stranded in hard-hit areas.