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The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Berlin (HKETO Berlin), together with the Hong Kong Tourism Board, sponsored the 17th annual Berlin Dragon Boat City Cup, held in Grünau in Berlin, Germany, on July 5 and 6 (Berlin time). Some 100 teams from all over Germany took part in the competition, which is Berlin's largest water sports event.
The climax of the two exciting event days was the final race on July 5, the Open Berlin championship, in which attractively decorated dragon boats glided through the water to the beat of heavy drums. At the award ceremony, the Director of HKETO Berlin, Mr Ivan Lee, presented trophies to the winners. Referring to the long tradition of dragon boat races in Hong Kong, Mr Lee said he appreciated the enthusiasm and passion of both participants and the audience. "First started in 1976 with teams consisting mainly of Hong Kong fishermen, the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races have sparked an explosion of worldwide interest in dragon boat racing and transformed an ancient Chinese folk ritual into a modern international sport," he said.
Dragon boat racing has its origin in China and dates back more than 2 200 years. The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Tuen Ng Festival, commemorates the death of the poet Qu Yuan, who took his own life by jumping into the Miluo River in protest against state rulers. When local villagers learned of his death, they took their boats out on the river and hit the water with their paddles and beat drums to keep the corpse safe from fish. The act of people rushing over in boats has developed into races of boats in the shape of a dragon.
The Dragon Boat Festival is a public holiday in Hong Kong (the actual date in the Western calendar differs each year as the date of the occasion follows the Chinese calendar; it will fall on June 20 in 2015). Thousands of the world's top dragon boat athletes battle for trophies in June every year at the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races, during which intense racing fills the city's iconic harbour with heart-stopping action, a profusion of colour and the sounds of drummers and fans cheering paddlers on to the finish line. At the waterfront, athletes and spectators enjoy non-stop music, live entertainment and ice-cold beer.
In Berlin, sport fans and families also enjoyed a diverse entertainment programme with culinary and musical highlights and a video about the festivities in Hong Kong, followed by live screenings of the football World Cup.
About Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Berlin
HKETO Berlin is the official Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government representative in commercial relations and other economic and trade matters in Germany as well as Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Ends/Monday, July 7, 2014
Issued at HKT 22:01
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