Thousands of paddlers and spectators gathered along the east bank of the Victoria Harbor here on Saturday to witness the 35th anniversary of the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races, which marked the beginning of the internationalization of the Chinese traditional activity.

A total of 191 dragon boat teams, consisting of 161 local teams and 30 international teams from Oceania, Europe, North America and Asia, would contest in the two-day competition at the same site of its first edition in 1976.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board expected to attract a total of 44, 000 attendances during the races and the Dragon Boat Carnival, some 7,000 of which are tourists.

Dr. Vitus Leung, member of the executive committee of Hong Kong Dragon Boat Association, said dragon boating started to be an international sport from the races at the Victoria Harbor, thus it was the best way of celebrating its 35th anniversary to have the competition taken place at its beginning site.

The Hong Kong International Races in 1976 was the first international competition of the sport which originated in China thousands of years ago in memory of an ancient poet and politician Qu Yuan.

Dr. Leung said it was the story and the Chinese culture behind the races that made the dragon boating such a special and attractive sport to the foreigners.

The Hong Kong International Races was also recognised as the "mother races" of the modern sport as the design of the dragon boat and paddle chosen by the International Dragon Boat Federation Congress in 1994 was the standard size Dragon Boat as raced here.

According to the organizers, dragon boating has been accepted by 65 countries and regions all over the world in the past 35 years and will debut at the Asian Games in Guangzhou later this year.