Hot air balloon enthusiasts on Friday joined in the Qiongzhou
Strait challenge and the first Haikou hot air balloon festival in
the southern Chinese island of
Hainan.
The three-day event is themed as "Meeting the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Building a Harmonious
Haikou". The 10 participating contestants are China's top athletes
in the hot air balloon arena.
This is the first hot air balloon festival?in Haikou, the
island province's capital, and has attracted at least 1,000
residents who watched folk dance performances at the opening
ceremony.
Cruise voyages of 10 cars each carrying a hot air balloon
nacelle respectively and throwing flame in unison passed downtown
areas after the opening ceremony.
Early on Friday morning, nearly 500 locals gathered on the
Haikou People's Square and waited for balloon rides.
(CRI June 17, 2007)
