Dragon Boats Thunder Through Hong Kong Waters to Mark Ancient Chinese Festival

Competitors take part in the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in Hong Kong, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
Competitors take part in the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in Hong Kong, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
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Dragon Boats Thunder Through Hong Kong Waters to Mark Ancient Chinese Festival

Competitors take part in the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in Hong Kong, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
Competitors take part in the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in Hong Kong, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

Throngs of people flocked to southern Hong Kong on Saturday to watch the iconic dragon boat races, a highlight of a Chinese festival with over 2,000 years of history.

Following their drummers’ rhythm, crews powered their dragon boats through the water in unison, racing to become the first to reach the finish line. Residents and tourists cheered for them.

The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as “Tuen Ng” in Cantonese, is linked to various legends. But the most well-known story is about commemorating a patriotic and righteous official in ancient times who drowned himself after falling out of favor with his leader and seeing his kingdom decline.

According to the lore, villagers rushed out to the river with boats to search for his body, and threw rice dumplings into the river to prevent fish from eating it. Hence, dragon boating and eating rice dumplings have become the festival's traditions.

The festival is also celebrated in mainland China and Taiwan, alongside countries like Singapore and Malaysia that have a large Chinese diaspora. Residents gathered to watch dragon boat races held along the northern section of the Grand Canal in Tongzhou, on the outskirts of Beijing.

In Hong Kong, a standard boat seats 20 paddlers.

The government previously estimated that about 380,000 mainland Chinese tourists would visit the city during a three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday break starting Saturday, marking a 16% increase in daily average visitor arrivals.



Sunken WWII Japanese Warship Found Off Solomon Islands

A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust
A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust
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Sunken WWII Japanese Warship Found Off Solomon Islands

A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust
A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust

An international research team has located a Japanese World War II destroyer on the deep seabed off Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.

A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki at a depth of more than 800 meters (2,625 feet) off the small island nation northeast of Australia, AFP reported.

A video image of the wreck shows parts of the 134-meter (440-foot) Teruzuki, which was torpedoed by the US military in 1942, illuminated by lights from the research team's underwater drones.

The footage shows red paint on the hull, corroded gun barrels and the warship's massive stern.

Commissioned in 1942, the Teruzuki was designed for screening aircraft carriers from aerial attacks, the exploration group said.

However, the Teruzuki, which means "Shining Moon" in Japanese, was hit by US torpedoes just months into its service.

Nine sailors were killed but most of the crew members survived, the Ocean Exploration Trust said.

Teruzuki's stern was found more than 200 meters (660 feet) from the hull and was located by high-resolution sonar scans, it said.

The discovery was made while the team used drones to survey the area in the hope of finding unidentified shipwrecks or other items.