Paddlers prepare to compete in the Dragon Boat Race in Cairo, Egypt, on Feb 23, 2019. The Chinese dragon boat festival was held in Egyptian capital Cairo on Saturday. [Photo/Xinhua]

"The general atmosphere is nice, with different nationalities and attractive games for children. It's really a nice day," Mansour said.

Amira Ayman, 17-year-old high school student, said that the festival this year is more popular with more visitors, noting that she liked the games held in the yard such as the riddles hanging from lanterns and the nose sticking on the face of a wooden figure while being blindfolded.

"The Egyptian-Chinese friendship is old and their diplomatic relations have been established for over 60 years, so we find the Chinese people very close to us. Some of them amazingly speak Arabic too," she told Xinhua with a big smile.