Qintong Boat Festival Opens in Eastern China

The 16th China Wetland Ecotourism Festival and 2023 China Qintong Boat Festival kicked off on April 8 in Jiangyan District of Taizhou City, eastern China's Jiangsu Province. A boat competition was held at the opening ceremony, with more than 10,000 competitors pitting their skills against each other on over 500 boats, creating a visual feast to tens of thousands of guests and tourists at the event. 

The Boat Festival [Photo via Cyberspace Administration of Taizhou]

With a long history, Qintong festive boat has been included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage and the boat festival is among the top ten folk celebrations in China.

The Boat Festival [Photo via Cyberspace Administration of Taizhou]

Themed "Qintong, the home to the best festive boats", this year's boat festival will serve as a stage to fully display the local culture and tourist resources of Qin Lake and Jiangyan District.

The Boat Festival [Photo via Cyberspace Administration of Taizhou]

Activities related to the boat festival, which will take place one after another until the end of June, can be divided into four categories, namely Tourism + Celebration, Tourism + Trade, Tourism + Health Care and Tourism + Culture. Highlights of the activities include an event that enables visitors to view thousands of camellia blossoms and the launch ceremony of new scenic routes on rivers. These activities are expected to display tourist resources in the region, be bridges that connect different industries and be carnivals for everyone to have fun.

The scenery of Jiangyan [Photo via Cyberspace Administration of Taizhou]

Jiangyan at Night [Photo via Cyberspace Administration of Taizhou]

Jiangyan, where the boat festival is held, is a place greatly benefited from water resources which have been the main reason for its beauty and prosperity. Jiangyan will take the boat festival as an opportunity to offer tourist and cultural products of higher quality and richer cultural connotations to people and tourist there, and to compose a brand new chapter for the high-quality development in its culture and tourism sector in the new era.