Dragons on campus
The winners of the 12th International Students' Dragon Boat Race in Shanghai at the Fengxian Campus of the East China University of Science and Technology
The team of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics won first place in the 12th International Students' Dragon Boat Race on Saturday at the Fengxian Campus of East China University of Science and Technology.
By winning the championship, they also stopped East China Normal University from winning the race for the fourth consecutive year. East China Normal University won second place this year, followed by Donghua University.
Those two universities shared the second prizes, while Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Tongji University and Shanghai Dianji University took the third.
International students from 29 local universities took part in the competition, also an annual celebration of the coming duanwu, or Dragon Boat Festival.
The competition began in 2008 and has been an annual fest for international students to experience traditional Chinese culture while meeting up with friends from other countries.
The dragon boat race is an ancient tradition, expressing people's best wishes for life and demonstrating a spirit of solidarity and moving forward.
Shanghai has been attracting more and more students from other countries.
Last year alone, more than 61,400 foreign students from about 200 countries and territories came here to study in Shanghai universities, slightly higher than the previous year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education.
Colleges around the city have developed various cultural courses and activities for them to experience Chinese cultures, including calligraphy, tai chi, Chinese ancient zither, Peking Opera and more.
Students perform dragon dance before the race.
Rowing hard
