UK city celebrates Dragon Boat Festival with thrilling races, performances

Salford in UK's Greater Manchester celebrated this year's Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on Monday, with thrilling dragon boat races and vibrant traditional Chinese performances from Saturday to Sunday.

Since 2012, the annual Dragon Boat Race has become a fun-filled fixture in the English city of Salford. This year, the event brought around 40 amateur teams together with a dozen professional ones, highlighting sporting prowess and the event's cultural inclusiveness.

The atmosphere was electric as teams battled it out - their paddles slicing through the water with precision and power.

For most participants, the priority is not to win, but to have fun.

"Honestly, I think we did actually pretty well, as we only got to train like once last week. So I think everyone has done a great job. And we're screaming, we're yelling, and we're like having [a] team spirit. That's all we need, right? So yeah, [we are] very excited honestly," said Ernestina Zhu, PhD researcher at the University of Manchester.

The Manchester United Foundation also joined the game - a whole new ball game for these professionals in football.

"First time we have been in the festival, first time we have actually been in a boat, and to then come out as winners, fantastic. Well they both, obviously different techniques, but actually the tactics are very similar in terms of working together," said John Shiels, CEO of Manchester United Foundation.

Now in the UK, the event is considered an opportunity to showcase traditional Chinese culture - which has become an integral part of Greater Manchester.

"So, I'm absolutely delighted to be here today in Salford Quays in the great city of Salford for what is the 10th Chinese dragon boat race. And obviously, this is really important in the calendar for Greater Manchester and Salford, because of the Chinese diaspora who've made Greater Manchester their home and also the UK's relationship with China," said Paul Dennett, the mayor of Salford.

Besides the race, the event also featured a series of performances, including dragon dance, lion dance and waist drum dance, many of which were presented jointly by Chinese and British performers.

"We don't just take the event as a dragon boat race, but instead we see it as a platform to promote Chinese culture," said Li Xuebing, vice-chairman of the Xinhua Chinese Association.

The event was organized by the Xinhua Chinese Association in partnership with Salford City Council and the British Dragon Boat Racing Association.

Originating in China thousands of years ago, the dragon boat race is one of many traditions in celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival, which commemorates the Chinese patriotic poet Qu Yuan (about 340-278 BC) on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of the Chinese calendar.

Dragon boats are typically decorated with Chinese dragon heads at the prow and tails at the stern. Paddlers sit in pairs on a boat, along with a steersperson navigating the boat near the dragon tail and a drummer beating the rhythm against the head.

UK city celebrates Dragon Boat Festival with thrilling races, performances

UK city celebrates Dragon Boat Festival with thrilling races, performances

At precisely 07:15 each morning, veteran meteorologist Tsering Dekyi launches a weather balloon from Lhasa Meteorological Station, continuing a ritual that has documented the remarkable transformation of the capital city of southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region over half a century.

For 26 years, Dekyi has maintained this precision-critical routine where even a one-second delay constitutes a professional failure.

"Attention to details is vital. The tiniest error can cause disaster. A mistake of just 0.1 in the data input can have a major impact," she said.

As the balloon rises into sky, it captures atmospheric readings while revealing panoramic views of Lhasa's evolving skyline, where ancient temples now neighbor modern infrastructure.

The daily launches, conducted at optimal atmospheric conditions, showcase how this ancient city harmonizes heritage with development. Through the lens of balloon-mounted cameras, prayer-flag adorned rooftops give way to sprawling new residential districts and the gleaming Lhasa-Nyingchi railway terminus.

Meteorological balloons have risen from this station since the 1970s, their flight paths unintentionally chronicling urban expansion. Where observers once saw mostly farmland, they now document a regional hub with highways radiating across the plateau and solar farms powering growth.

As Dekyi watches another balloon shrink to a dot, its sensors will transmit real-time updates about the rarefied air above one of Asia's fastest-transforming cities, where tradition and progress share the same horizon.

Weather balloons witness Lhasa's remarkable transformation