Dragon boat races return to southern China as Covid cases retreat

Places such as Guangzhou were able to hold the first races to mark the Dragon Boat Festival since the start of the pandemic

China recorded just 74 new Covid cases on Friday and restrictions are being eased in many parts of the country

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A dragon boat at the Lychee Bay scenic area in Guangzhou . Photo: AP

Published: 9:01pm, 3 Jun 2022

Dragon boat races returned to parts of China on Friday for the first time since the start of the pandemic, as restrictions are lifted along with a major drop in Covid-19 cases.

The historic Lychee Bay scenic area in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou staged races and other scaled-back celebrations to mark the Dragon Boat Festival that commemorates the death more than 2,200 years ago of revered poet and government minister Qu Yuan.

Restrictions on the length of events and the size of crowds remained in place but did little to dampen the mood.

Along with dragon boat races, which feature teams of up to a dozen or more, the holiday is marked by community gatherings and the enthusiastic consumption of steamed rice dumplings cooked with meat, peanuts and other ingredients and wrapped in green leaves bound with string.

China recorded just 74 new Covid-19 cases on Friday and restrictions have been eased in cities such as Shanghai, which had been under strict lockdown for more than two months.

While travel restrictions, testing requirements, quarantines and mask mandates remain, the country is gradually emerging from its hard-line “zero-Covid” policy that has throttled the domestic economy and severely constricted global supply chains.

Racers have been suspended for more than two years. Photo: AP