Golden Dragon boat parade dazzles Suzhou to mark Duanwu Festival

A fascinating Golden Dragon boat parade was staged on Friday in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, to celebrate traditional Chinese Duanwu Festival, captivating tens of thousands of residents and tourists with a glowing dragon gliding across the water.

The featured parade is an intangible cultural heritage from Yangshuo County of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The parade came alive on Friday night with a winding line of 55 illuminated bamboo rafts linked end-to-end, moving through the old moat outside Suzhou's historical Xiangmen Gate. The parade of the dragon-like line of boats stretched over 500 meters, fascinating many tourists who came from across the country to enjoy the festive cheer.

"It is quite a grand and spectacular parade, with so many guests invited here. It's very impressive to see such a huge dragon for the first time," said Jiang Dingping, a tourist.

"Today's Golden Dragon parade is absolutely perfect, and people are incredibly enthusiastic. I'm also very grateful to Suzhou for their support of this event that allows us to witness such an excellent and wonderful culture," said Zhang Hao, another tourist.

The spectacle also featured yellow umbrellas, and a 4.8-meter-high new "dragon head" that is predominantly green and specially made for this performance.

"We hope everyone will love our intangible cultural heritage, the Golden Dragon parade. We welcome you to visit Yangshuo, Guilin, when you have time, to watch the dragon parade amidst the beautiful natural scenery," said Tao Wen, a bamboo rift operator of the parade team.

Celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the Duanwu Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, fell on Friday this year. It is a time to get rid of misfortune as venomous animals and insects were believed to appear at this time of year. It is also a time to commemorate the beloved Chinese poet Qu Yuan (339-278 BC) from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). Traditional activities such as dragon boat races and eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) have been passed down for ages to celebrate the festival.

Golden Dragon boat parade dazzles Suzhou to mark Duanwu Festival

A 28-member press delegation from 19 countries, joined by Chinese state media, has embarked on a week-long tour in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, gaining first-hand insight into a region that also serves as a core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

The journey began Friday in Turpan. The first stop was a massive "photovoltaic plus solar-thermal" hybrid project featuring over 20,000 heliostat mirrors, a breathtaking sight that drew admiration from the visitors.

"Obviously, solar energy is used all over the world, but in the way I've seen it here and it was explained to me here, I haven't seen it before, especially since apparently like two different techniques are being combined to produce green energy for China. It's cool," said Stefan Zanev, freelancer for Bavarian Broadcasting.

The delegation also stopped at a Uygur hospital's sand-therapy center, where reporters sampled herbal teas and experienced heated sand treatments.

In the coming days, the group will travel to Hotan and Urumqi to observe the daily lives and work of local communities.

Int'l press delegation visits Xinjiang