PHNOM PENH, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia began on Thursday to celebrate the annual Water Festival with thrilling dragon boat races, attracting tens of thousands of spectators from across the country.

The festival is one of the most joyful festivals in the Southeast Asian country, and boat races are the centerpiece of the three-day festival, which will last till Saturday.

Bou Chumserey, vice chairman of the boat-racing technical control committee, said the regatta was being held along a 1.7-km stretch of the Tonle Sap River in front of the royal palace in the capital Phnom Penh.

"This year's festival is the biggest-ever, with 348 boats and 22,052 oarsmen from different provinces taking part in the regatta," he told Xinhua.

In last year's festival, 337 boats with 20,417 crew members participated in the races. Chumserey said the rise came after the kingdom's peace, better socio-economic development, and better people's livelihoods.

The regatta was to honor the strength of the powerful Khmer marine forces during the ancient Khmer Empire in the late 11th century, he said, adding that it is also to mark the end of the annual rainy season and the unique reversal flow of the Tonle Sap River that connects the Tonle Sap Lake with the Mekong River. Enditem

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