Celebrations to mark the Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival) have been held with a blend of traditional and modern spectacles, featuring dragon boat races and folk performances, in Anju Ancient Town in Tongliang, the homeland of the dragon, in the southwestern Chinese municipality of Chongqing.
The Duanwu Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar. This year, it fell on June 19.
Traditional dragon boat races remain essential to the celebrations. At the sound of the starting whistle, rowers paddle vigorously toward the finish line amid cheering crowds. The races have inspired another competition, known as the duck-catching contest, where firecrackers signal a race to catch ducks thrown into the water as the leading dragon boat approaches.
"Everyone has his own job on weekdays, but we make time to keep training. We're not doing it for rankings -- merely to carry on the Anju dragon boat tradition," said Tao Kangyong, a member of the dragon boat team.
In addition, other performances were also staged, including stunts featuring a dragon dance, jet skis, and powered paragliders. Drones were used to make several lifelike dragons fly gracefully in the sky, creating a spectacular visual feast.
"The experience was fantastic. There is a strong festive atmosphere. I truly felt the charm of the traditional culture of the Dragon Boat Festival," said Zhou Li, a tourist.
As night falls, the ancient town treats visitors to a dazzling array of folk performances.
Chongqing lures visitors with traditional, modern spectacles in Duanwu Festival
China's Yangtze River Delta saw record-high import and export volumes in the first five months of this year, extending consecutive foreign trade growth to 15 months, and demonstrating the strong resilience and vitality of China's economy.
The Yangtze River Delta region, which covers Shanghai Municipality and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, all in east China, is one of China's most economically dynamic, open and innovative areas.
According to data from Chinese customs authorities, the region's total value of imports and exports in the five-month period reached 7.82 trillion yuan (about 1.16 trillion U.S. dollars), up 16.2 percent year on year and accounting for 37.8 percent of the nation's foreign trade total.
Exports amounted to 4.92 trillion yuan, accounting for 41.3 percent of the country's total. Exports of high-end manufacturing products such as ships, integrated circuits, and robots all achieved double-digit growth.
Imports totaled 2.9 trillion yuan during this period. Growing demand for raw materials and high-end components for industrial production supported stable operations in advanced manufacturing.
Foreign trade entities continued to demonstrate strong vitality. In the first five months, private enterprises recorded imports and exports totaling 4.22 trillion yuan, accounting for 54 percent of the Yangtze River Delta's total foreign trade value.
The region's imports and exports with Belt and Road countries increased by 17.5 percent year on year, while the foreign trade total with emerging markets, such as ASEAN, Latin America, and Africa, grew by 25.5 percent, 9.3 percent, and 14 percent, respectively, demonstrating its growing resilience in foreign trade.
Yangtze River Delta reports record foreign trade in Jan-May
