Students from 12 universities competed in a dragon boat race in Tianjin's Nankai district on May 31 to celebrate the upcoming traditional Dragon Boat Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival, more than 230 students from leading Chinese universities — including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nankai University, and Tianjin University — competed in a dragon boat race on the Haihe River in Tianjin's Nankai district on May 31.

Organizers said the event was designed not only to celebrate the traditional festival, but also to promote exchanges among young talent from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and encourage the inheritance of traditional Chinese culture.