A fire balloon inflates before it rises during the first Haikou Fire Balloon Festival in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, June 17, 2007. Ten fire balloon succeeded in flying over Qiongzhou Straits separating Hainan Island from the Chinese mainland.(Xinhua Photo)

    HAIKOU, south China, June 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of 300 Haikou citizens enjoyed flying by hot-air balloons during the First Haikou Hot-air Balloon Festival held from June 15 to 17 in south China's Hainan Province.

    The H1 China Hot-air Ballooning over Qiongzhou Straits Competition 2007, as part of the balloon festival, just ended on Sunday. Ten hot-air balloons represented by ten different delegations across the country succeed in flying over Qiongzhou Straits between Hainan Island and the Chinese mainland, and landed at Xuwen County in Guangdong Province.

    "H for H1 China Hot-air Ballooning over Qiongzhou Straits Competition means high, hero and happy," said Liu Xiang, a commissioner of Aero Sports Federation of China and a famous hot-air balloonist in China. And "1" for H1 represents the wish to make this competition one of the largest and most influential balloon competitions in China or even in Asia, Liu added.

    All the citizens who experienced riding hot-air balloons said that the greatest charm of ballooning sport lies in the feeling to exceed the utmost. This is undoubtedly a kind of quite thrilling sport for those who seek for freshness and excitement.

    There are about 20,000 hot-air balloons all round the world. Hot-air ballooning events and competitions are held almost every day in Europe and America. Usually enterprises possess most of the balloons and also sponsor the balloon competitions.

    As the cost of hot-air balloons is high, and it also cost much to fly by balloons and to obtain a pilot license, only a few people are engaged in this sport. There are some 200 hot-air balloons in China and 200 people have the pilot license granted by China Civil Aviation.

    Liu Xiang once succeeded in flying over the Huanghai Sea (Yellow Sea)from Rongcheng in Shangdong province of China and landed in Kyongju in South Korea in January, 1999. The balloon flight covered 620 kilometers and lasted 7 hours and 40 minutes, which hit the record in the Chinese ballooning history. While such a large-scale competition as flying over Qiongzhou Straits is the first of its kind in China and ten balloonists flying over Qiongzhou Straits at the same time has also made a new record.

    Like many other aircraft, the new fashionable sports as hot-air ballooning are also some dangerous. Casualties were resulted during a hot-air balloon event in Shanxi Province in 2004. Another accident happened in a hot-air balloon club in Beijing in 2006, which caused one death and three injuries.

    "Flying over Qiongzhou Straits is really a big challenge for ballooners, and it will be an unforgettable experience for all the contestants," said Liu. As the sport ballooning is more accepted, Liu believed more and more Chinese will enjoy the flying experience brought by hot-air balloons.

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