The 1,500 drone dragon that danced in the Shenzhen sky

Around 1,500 drones lit up the night sky over the Chinese city of Shenzhen on 22 June with imagery of a flying dragon to mark the start of the country’s Dragon Boat Festival.

The festival, which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, is a commemoration of the ancient poet Qu Yuan and it is typically celebrated by holding dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings.

The synchronised display showed images of a whale, fish, dragon boat, eagle and solar system, to go with the dragon boat.

Writing on LinkedIn, author and AI expert Pascal Bornet said it was the best drone show he had ever seen.

The drone show contributed to Shenzhen welcoming 3.38m visitors during this year’s three-day festival – 34.9% more than in 2022.

China’s drone industry reached an annual turnover of $14bn in 2022, with Shenzhen accounting for more than 70% of the world’s consumer drones and 50% of its industrial drones, according to the Shenzhen Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Industry Association.