The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which falls on June 22 this year. On June 17th, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics Asia-Pacific co-hosted with the International College of UCAS and other departments to celebrate this traditional Chinese Festival, with 17 dragon boat teams composed of both Chinese and international students participating in the activity actively.

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International Students dressed in traditional Chinese clothes 

Before the race began, there are warm-up games including pitch-pot, shooting the five poisons, catching rice-dumplings as well as award-winning quiz about Duanwu              Festival. Students and faculty from the ICTP-AP also took part in the games and had a lot of fun there.

 


 

When the event’s atmosphere climbed as high as the temperature, Professor Zhongbo Hu, on behalf of Yueliang Wu, the director of the ICTP-AP, delivered an opening speech for the dragon boat race. After that, Professor Yueliang Wu and Zhongbo Hu inaugurated the dragon boat race together. 

Professor Yueliang Wu painted the eye to enliven the dragon


Professor Zhongbo Hu painted the eye to enliven the dragon

 Professor Yue-Liang Wu announced the official beginning of the boat race

Students and faculty from the ICTP-AP formed a team boat named “ The Ripple of Space-Time” . After the coach’s patient training, the race got started. And every racer is sparing no efforts in paddling. After the race, the coach said that dragon boat racing is highly dependent on teamwork – every racer has to coordinate with each other in paddle frequency, speed as well as distance and a racer from the team said that he is looking forward to taking part in next year’s race and bringing the prize for the team.

 

This International Dragon Boat Race, held as part of the Dragon Boat Festival Carnival provided a great opportunity for students from home and abroad to experience the profoundness and vitality of Chinese civilization. Aside from the thrilling competition, what’s more worth remembering is the common memory of team spirits and cultural exchanges among the participants.

Students from ICTP-AP and the International College of UCAS