The 2024 China National Endurance Horse Riding Championship came to an end on Sunday in Damao United Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with winners being crowned in the different events.
The championship, the highest-level endurance riding event in China with more than 200 participants, includes a 120km individual competition, a 100km individual competition, a 100km team competition, and 40km and 80km qualifying competitions.
In order to protect the health of the horses on the grueling course, the competition is divided into stages. After each stage, the physical condition of the horses is tested immediately and if the horse's heart rate exceeds 64 beats per minute, the rider will be eliminated.
"All the horses at the highest level in China have come, and the seven members of the national team who will participate in the 2024 FEI Endurance World Championship in France in September have also participated in the event. Through this competition, we are strengthening our physical fitness and adapting to competition atmosphere," said Jia Huilin, a member of the national team.
During the competition, exhibitions of world famous horses, show jumping performances, and equestrian barrel racing were also held to keep the audience entertained.
National endurance riding championship puts horses through their paces in Inner Mongolia
Consumption continued to heat up during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday from Friday to Sunday, as China's consumer goods trade-in programs have gained traction, and its diversified cultural offerings have stimulated new spending needs. At a car dealership in Wuhan City of central China's Hubei Province, consumers are keen to test drive a new energy vehicle with outstanding battery life as the province has beefed up its support for electric car purchase.
"The maximum subsidy for replacing a used car is 44,000 yuan (about 6,000 U.S. dollars), which is quite attractive to me," said a consumer surnamed Wan. In Shanghai, the Bingang shopping mall started trial operation during the holiday and provides citizens and tourists with a wide range of entertainment experiences by empowering more than a dozen performing arts and entertainment spaces of different sizes with high technology.
"We have introduced more than 20 different types of pan-entertainment experiences. We hope to create a destination for cultural entertainment-induced consumption by gathering different types of entertainment," said Wu Jiuying, marketing manager of the Shanghai Bingang shopping mall.
The Qingming Festival holiday has also given a boost to the domestic box office, with dozens of films released.
As of 21:00 on Sunday, China's total box office revenue for the three-day holiday had surpassed 377 million yuan (approximately 51.5 million U.S. dollars), according to data from online platforms.
The U.S. produced film "A Minecraft Movie", Chinese crime thriller "We Girls", animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2", crime drama "Mumu" and police action movie "Fox Hunt" are currently ranked as the top five.
April 4 marked this year's Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the deceased and to worship their ancestors. Increasing numbers of people nowadays also use the holiday as an occasion to make spring outing and enjoy leisure entertainment.
China sees strong spike in Qingming Festival spending
