The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday that dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, and it has a history of over 2000 years. The festival originated as a commemoration of Qu Yuan. There is a poem that says: "Who said the Dragon Boat Festival was divided? It has been passed down for ages in memory of Qu Yuan; It's laughable that the Chu River is so vast and empty, unable to wash away the wrongs done to an upright minister." As another fifth day of the fifth lunar month approaches, feelings of remembrance for Qu Yuan arise spontaneously.
Qu Yuan was a minister of King Huai of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated promoting capable individuals, enriching the country and strengthening its military, and strongly supported resisting the state of Qin. However, he faced fierce opposition from the aristocratic scholars. Consequently, he was slandered and removed from his post, exiled from the capital city. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as "Li Sao," "Tian Wen," and "Jiu Ge," which expressed his deep concern for his country and people, and have been celebrated through the ages. In 278 BC, when the Qin army captured the capital of Chu, Qu Yuan, seeing his homeland invaded and occupied, was heartbroken. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, he wrote his final work, "Huai Sha," then embraced a stone and drowned himself in the Miluo River.
After Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were deeply saddened and gathered at the banks of the Miluo River to mourn him. Fishermen rowed their small boats back and forth on the river, searching for his body. They threw rice balls and eggs, prepared for Qu Yuan, into the river, saying that if the fish and shrimp were full, they wouldn't harm Qu Yuan's body. Later, to prevent the rice balls from being eaten solely by dragons, people came up with the idea of wrapping rice in bamboo leaves and tying them with colorful threads, gradually evolving into zongzi. Every fifth day of the fifth lunar month, there is a custom of eating zongzi to commemorate Qu Yuan, the patriotic poet.