A colorful water dragon parade was held in Shiqian County of southwest China's Guizhou Province on Saturday to celebrate the traditional local Water Dragon Festival, drawing tens of thousands of participants.
The parade featured 13 dragons made of bamboo strips and willow branches, which were carried through streets as onlookers showered them with water, praying for blessing.
As the water dragons snaked through the ancient streets, people also splashed water on each other, using everything from water guns to buckets, turning the blessing into a lively water fight.
"You can really feel the deep cultural vibe in this parade, and everyone is so warm," said Feng Xingting, a tourist from Guangdong.
The tradition began during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). According to legend, a dragon once ended a severe drought in the area. Ever since, villagers have created green dragons every year and sprinkled water to ask for timely rains and bountiful harvests.
The water dragon celebration in Shiqian has been listed as a municipal intangible cultural heritage of Tongren.
"We wish to better keep our cultural heritage alive, and we also hope that traditional culture could energize our tourism. By blending culture with tourism, we wish to produce more new business forms and facilitate high‑quality growth of the sector," said Rao Li, an official with the county's culture and tourism bureau.
Guizhou folk parade celebrates water dragon festival
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, a newly formed defense pact among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, represents a deterrence strategy rather than an actual threat to Iran, according to Hossein Kanani Moghaddam, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The three nations on Friday signed the joint defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to deepen cooperation among the three regional powers amid rising regional security concerns, according to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.
The agreement aims to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, under which an armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against all, the ministry said in a statement.
However, its signing amid the backdrop of the Middle East conflict has prompted questions as to whether the parties would actually uphold their obligations in the event of a real attack.
"Treaties like these are more about deterrence than operational use. That is, if we were to attack the U.S. base in Saudi Arabia tomorrow, Pakistan wouldn't react. Even Türkiye, because they know that if they respond they'd be drawn into a war against Iran, is mostly engaging in propaganda. And in my view, it has no effect in terms of threatening Iran," said Kanani Moghaddam, who now works as a military analyst.
"We want to attack the U.S. base; we're not attacking Saudi Arabia. This base is in Saudi Arabia, and in any case Saudi Arabia understands that we're not seeking war with them. It seems that this pact that has been forged will have no effect on the war between Iran, the United States, and the Zionist regime; it is viewed more as a deterrent measure," he said.
Former IRGC commander plays down threat from Pakistan-Saudi-Türkiye defense pact
