Dragon boat race listed as demonstration sport at Paris Olympics

China

Dragon boat race listed as demonstration sport at Paris Olympics

2024-06-07 16:52 Last Updated At：18:27

A dragon boat race will be held as a demonstration sport at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics, said Thomas Konietzko, president of the International Canoe Federation (ICF) recently.

Konietzko has credited the inclusion to collaborative efforts between the ICF and China Media Group (CMG), supported by the International Olympic Committee.

At a launch ceremony of CMG's gala celebrating Dragon Boat Festival held in Beijing on Thursday, Konietzko conveyed his best wishes to the Chinese people via video link and celebrated the global popularity of dragon boat race, as well as the upcoming ICF Dragon Boat World Cup and the first International Super Cup of Canoe and Kayak in China.

The ICF Dragon Boat World Cup is scheduled to take place in Zigui County, central China's Hubei Province in October. Zigui is renowned as the birthplace of Qu Yuan (about 340 BC-278 BC), a loyal statesman and a patriotic poet in Chu, which was a major state in the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). The Dragon Boat Festival is a day to commemorate Qu Yuan. The first International Super Cup of Canoe and Kayak will be held in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, in October.

This year's CMG's dragon boat race will kick off in the city of Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu Province, during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, which runs from June 8 to 10.

As a representative of Chinese culture, the dragon boat race serves as a traditional practice during the Dragon Boat Festival to honor the life and legacy of poet Qu Yuan. This festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar Chinese calendar.

Chinese business group strongly urges EU to be prudent with tariffs on Chinese EVs

2024-10-05 12:50 Last Updated At：13:47

The China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (CCCEU) issued a statement on Friday, expressing strong dissatisfaction with the EU's protectionism measures to raise tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).

The European Commission -- the executive arm of the 27-nation EU -- approved to impose tariffs of up to 45 percent on Chinese EVs after a pivotal vote on Friday, even after the bloc's largest economy and major car producer Germany rejected them.

The CCCEU urged the EU to act prudently, suspend the implementation of tariffs on Chinese EVs, and focus on resolving disputes and differences through talks.

This would help avoid the escalation of bilateral trade disputes, and jointly safeguard free trade and prosperity in the green and clean energy sectors on both sides, as well as worldwide, the chamber said in the statement.

The EU’s countervailing investigation against China's EVs is an unfair protectionist practice driven by politics. Imposing high tariffs will not only affect Chinese enterprises but also interfere with the production of EVs in China by European and other overseas enterprises, the chamber said.