China earns 19 gold medals at World Dragon Boat Racing Championship

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After five days of fierce competition, the 13th World Dragon Boat Racing Championship closed in on Sunday Kunming , Yunnan Province, with China taking away 19 gold medals.

The team from Foshan, South China’s Guangdong Province took home 11 gold medals.

As a top-level international game for dragon boat racing, the championship saw participation from 2,500 athletes from 24 countries and regions.

The men's team from China made a breakthrough this year – winning first place in the 2,000 meter race, which is normally won by normally countries like Canada and the US.

The Championship was initiated by International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF), which was founded in Hong Kong in 1991. Now it has 85 members across the world including Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, the UK, Australia, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia and Norway.

Dragon boats at the 13th World Dragon Boat Racing Championship./Xinhua Photo

Origin of the tradition

Dragon boat racing has been a folk activity in China since ancient times. It is believed that Qu Yuan (343BC - 278BC), a poet and minister who lived during the Warring States period committed suicide in a Miluo River.

Many people row their boats as a gesture to try to save him.

Since then people race boats every year on the Chinese lunar calendar's May 5, which is known as the Dragon Boat Festival, as a tradition of paying tribute to him.

Qu Yuan./Photo via Baidu Baike

It’s a common activity in cities in south China, which are along the river. It’s more than just a sports activity, but also a way to show Chinese patriotism and collective spirit.

Dragon Boat was inscribed into the UNESCO list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2011.

During the Dragon Boat Festival, many cities and provinces in south China will host their own smaller-scale racing competitions to celebrate.

To further promote this sport globally, the IDBF has formulated rules and regulations in Mandarin and English and is also nurturing the skill of making dragon boats and paddles.

Dragon Boat Racing./CCTV Photo

The World Dragon Boat Racing Championship is always held on an odd-numbered year. The first championship was held in Yueyang, Hunan Province in Chinese mainland in 1995 and the second was in Hong Kong in 1997. It also traveled to Nottingham in the UK, Vancouver, Canada and Wellington, New Zealand.

The next championship will travel to Thailand.