People's Daily Online, Salford, June 17 (Xing Xue, Zhou Zhuobin, Guo Jinbiao) "One! Two! One! Two!" In the cry of the contestants, 40 fleets of Chinese and foreign sailors cut the waves and fought bravely for the first place. To celebrate the upcoming traditional Chinese festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the 2023 All British Chinese Dragon Boat Festival officially opened in Salford, England, on the 17th.
Dragon boat activity site. Photographed by Guo Jinbiao on people.com.cn
The 2023 All British Chinese Dragon Boat Festival will be held in Salford, England. Photographed by Xing Xue, a reporter of People's Daily Online
Dragon boat activity site. Photographed by Guo Jinbiao on people.com.cn
Dragon boat activity site. Photographed by Guo Jinbiao on people.com.cn
This activity lasts for two days, the 17th and 18th, and is divided into two parts: amateur fleet race and professional club fleet race. A total of 40 amateur fleets and more than 10 professional fleets participated.
According to the sponsor, this year's Xinhua Friendship Association, together with the Salford Municipal Government and the British Dragon Boat Race Association, jointly held the 2023 All British Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. Compared with previous years, the duration of the event has been extended from one day to two days. For the first time, professional fleets have participated in the event, and the proportion of foreign faces participating in dragon boat rowing has also increased significantly. The reporter saw at the scene that the morale of the team members was high. With the drumbeat, they strove to paddle rhythmically, and the cheers of cheering on the shore rose one after another.
At the 2023 All Britain China Dragon Boat Festival, several teams are chasing each other. Photographed by Xing Xue, a reporter of People's Daily Online
Dragon boat activity site. Photographed by Guo Jinbiao on people.com.cn
Dragon boat activity site. Photographed by Guo Jinbiao on people.com.cn
Yang Zhiyu, the Deputy Consul General of the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester, read out a congratulatory letter from Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom, on this event. The congratulatory letter said that the Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation, which has been passed down through thousands of years. Dragon boat racing is a symbol of the Dragon Boat Festival, which vividly reflects the spiritual connotation and cultural characteristics of the Chinese nation's perseverance, unity and hard work. Holding the Dragon Boat Festival to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival not only reflects the tireless yearning and pursuit of a better life, but also pays tribute to the pioneers of China UK friendship. It is hoped that people of insight from all walks of life in both countries will join hands to jointly carry forward the spirit of dragon boat culture, create more new highlights of exchanges and cooperation, enhance people to people connectivity and people to people friendship, and promote stable and long-term China UK relations.
Paul Dennett, the directly elected mayor of Salford and the deputy mayor of Greater Manchester, said that the Dragon Boat Festival was a celebration of cultural communication, teamwork and solidarity. "When we work together for a goal, we have a common identity and form a joint force. This exciting dragon boat race scene also fully demonstrates cultural diversity and inclusiveness."
Yang Hanxin, president of Manchester Xinhua Friendship Association, said at the event that the Dragon Boat Festival is of great significance in Chinese cultural tradition. The slogan of this Dragon Boat Festival is "We work together, we share the future". He hoped that we can work together to overcome all difficulties and challenges and make more contributions to promoting a harmonious and peaceful world.
Yang Hanxin, president of Manchester Xinhua Friendship Association, made a speech at the event. Photographed by Xing Xue, a reporter of People's Daily Online
At the same time, the activity site also held a variety of wonderful cultural activities, including Chinese traditional martial arts performance, folk art display, folk song and dance performance, Chinese talk show, Chinese food promotion and so on, attracting many audiences who love Chinese culture to watch. The British audience Peter's family said that the event was very exciting. "The British people have a variety of water sports. Although we have different cultural traditions, we have the same love. It's great to see such a wonderful and distinctive game in Britain."
Chinese calligraphy display at the event site. Photographed by Xing Xue, a reporter of People's Daily Online
Chinese martial arts performances attracted many British audiences. Photographed by Xing Xue, a reporter of People's Daily Online
British local politicians and businessmen, overseas Chinese, Chinese enterprises and representatives of overseas students also participated in the event. Hunan Miluo, known as "the source of the Dragon Boat Festival and the hometown of the dragon boat", sent a video to express its support for this event.
Dragon boat activity site. Photographed by Guo Jinbiao on people.com.cn
The All Britain Chinese Dragon Boat Festival has been held in Salford, England since 2012. Now it has become a festival event that is popular and actively participated by British people, enriched the cultural and sports life of local people, and become a platform to promote cultural exchanges between China and Britain and promote friendship between Chinese and British people.
(Editor in charge: Cui Yige, Yang Mu)
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