China's Dragon Boat Open Championship commences in Guangdong

The first race of the 2024 China Dragon Boat Open Championship commenced on Saturday in Qingyuan City of south China's Guangdong Province, attracting 20 professional teams from across the country and 12 local teams from Qingyuan, adding to a lively atmosphere on the competition scene.

With the resounding beats of gongs and drums, the participating teams energetically propelled their vibrant dragon boats, evoking the imagery of majestic dragons conquering the waves. The riverbanks were teeming with a multitude of spectators, creating a vibrant atmosphere filled with continuous cheers and applause.

"I haven't watched a dragon boat race in a long time, so I came here specifically to experience the atmosphere. It's a great way to carry on the tradition of this festive event," said a spectator.

The event is categorized into divisions for men, women, general participants, and exhibition teams.

In this event, the dragon boat races include 100-meter, 200-meter, and 500-meter straight-line races and a 3000-meter race around buoys.

"We started preparing right after the Spring Festival, and we have been planning for three months. We will continue to work hard and strive to win the championship at every race this year," said a Sanya Dragon Boat Association member.

Many young dragon boat teams are participating in the competition this time, and many university students are competing for the first time.

"I'm a freshman, and I started preparing for this since I first entered university. The teams we are competing against are all formidable opponents, and many of them are in national teams. We are here to learn from their experience," said Zhan Yizhou, a member of the dragon boat team of South China Normal University.

The China Dragon Boat Open Championship, established in 2011, is a prestigious competition in dragon boat racing.

China's Dragon Boat Open Championship commences in Guangdong

U.S. President Donald Trump's rollout of sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" may lead to global economic recession and will exacerbate inflation in the country, said a Spanish scholar.

Amid widespread opposition, Trump on Wednesday signed two executive orders, imposing a 10-percent "minimum baseline tariff" on all imported goods and higher rates on certain trading partners.

Felix Valdivieso, a professor at IE Business School, told China Central Television (CCTV) that following the imposition of the tariffs, all consumers in the world will feel the pinch.

"These measures will have global economic impacts and may even lead to a recession. Analysts at Moody's Ratings have pointed out that these tariffs will drive up prices. Price increases will directly affect consumers' personal income and spending power, as well as their purchasing power," Valdivieso said.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday announced his government will implement a 14.1 billion euro plan to support the economy in the face of Trump's tariffs.

He called the tariffs a "unilateral attack", saying they will harm the interests of people and businesses in both the EU and the United States itself, an opinion shared by Valdivieso.

"In other words, the U.S. is trying to make money by imposing tariffs, which will also drive up prices of domestic products. According to estimates by American analysts, the price of each car in the U.S. will go up by about 1,000 to 2,000 U.S. dollars after the tariffs are imposed. With car exports to the U.S. blocked, there will be two consequences for Europe. One is that Europe will have to find other markets to sell cars. The other is that it will have to bear the consequences of the decline in car sales in some way, so it has to reduce car production lines and lay off employees," he said.

Trump's tariffs may lead to global recession, exacerbate US inflation: Spanish scholar