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.
Dragon boat race listed as demonstration sport at Paris Olympics
Canada's energy industry is preparing for possible disruptions as the country faces the Trump administration's looming threat of a 25 percent tariff.
Following his presidential election victory in November, Trump announced he would sign an executive order imposing a 25-percent tariff on all Canadian goods imported into the United States.
Concerns are rising in Canada over the tariff threat, particularly its potential consequences for the energy sector.
Turner Valley, located about 80 kilometers from Calgary in the Canadian Province of Alberta, is a key hub for the region's petroleum industry, with visible signs of energy production throughout.
In 1914, a wet natural gas eruption from a well bore in the area laid the foundation for Alberta's petrochemical industry, marking the start of the modern era of oil and gas exploration and processing.
However, the threat of sweeping tariffs poses a potential challenge to energy companies in the region.
"Canada makes approximately four and a half million barrels a day of oil, almost all of it going to the United States as an export product. So with that backdrop, a 25 percent tariff on 140 billion dollars is roughly 35 billion dollars a year, and that is something that will have a major local Canadian economic impact," said Grant Strem, an expert advising various energy companies.
Signs are already emerging that peripheral companies are preparing for a fallout by scaling back operations and looking for new opportunities elsewhere.
Jeff LaFrenz, CEO and co-founder of Calgary-based VizworX, a custom software development firm, works with clients across the energy industry.
"We're looking at this from the perspective of, okay, maybe the U.S. stuff gets put off now, and maybe we go after these other ones, which we seem to have more traction and more trust that we can actually move forward on that. And so ultimately, when those questions are raised, you're going to start looking for places where there's less risk. And right now, the U.S. is becoming more risk at this point," LaFrenz said.
The impact of these tariffs would not be confined to Canada alone. U.S. refineries, particularly those in the Midwest, process nearly all of Canada's crude oil exports.
A potential tariff could increase the cost of refining, with the possibility of those higher costs being passed on to consumers.
While the prospect of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods presents significant challenges for the energy industry, LaFrenz views it as a chance to explore new avenues.
"These kind of events force us to look to other places and find opportunities we may not have really considered before, but actually might even be better in many cases," he said.
Canadian energy sector braces for potential US tariffs