Origin of the festival:

There are many theories about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. Generally, there are theories to commemorate Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu and Cao E, but among them, the theory to commemorate Qu Yuan has the most widespread influence.

1. Commemorating Qu Yuan

According to the "Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng" in "Historical Records", Qu Yuan was a minister of King Huai of Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the promotion of talents and empowerment, enriched the country and strengthened the military, and advocated uniting Qi to resist Qin. However, he was strongly opposed by the nobleman Zilan and others. Qu Yuan was dismissed from his post, expelled from the capital, and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang rivers. In exile, he wrote immortal poems such as "Li Sao", "Heavenly Questions" and "Nine Songs", which were concerned about the country and the people. They were unique in style and had far-reaching influence (therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Poet's Day). In 278 BC, the Qin army captured Kyoto, the state of Chu. Seeing his motherland being invaded, Qu Yuan was heartbroken, but he still could not bear to abandon his motherland. On May 5, after writing his final work "Huaisha", he bouldered into the Miluo River and died, risking his own life. Composed a magnificent patriotic movement.

It is said that after Qu Yuan died, the people of Chu State were extremely sad and flocked to the Miluo River to pay their respects to Qu Yuan. The fishermen rowed their boats and fished for his true body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other food prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river "plop, plop", saying that when the fish, lobsters and crabs were full, they would not bite Dr. Qu's body. People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took a jar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying it was to stun dragons and water animals so as not to harm Doctor Qu. Later, for fear that the rice balls would be eaten by dragons, people came up with the idea of ??wrapping the rice with neem leaves and wrapping it with colored silk, which developed into rice dumplings.

Since then, on the fifth day of May every year, there has been the custom of dragon boat racing, eating rice dumplings, and drinking realgar wine to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.

2. Commemorating Wu Zixu

The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is widely circulated in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It commemorates Wu Zixu during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC). Wu Zixu was a member of the Chu State, and his father and brother were both killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side, and rushed to the State of Wu to help Wu attack Chu. After five battles, he entered Yingcheng, the capital of Chu. At that time, King Ping of Chu was dead, so Zixu dug up the grave and whipped three hundred corpses to avenge the death of his father and brother. After the death of King Helu of Wu, his son Fucha succeeded to the throne. The Wu army had high morale and won every battle. The country of Yue was defeated. King Goujian of Yue asked for peace, and Fucha agreed. Zixu suggested that the Yue Kingdom should be completely eliminated, but Fu Chai refused to listen, and the Wu State slaughtered him. He was bribed by the Yue Kingdom and framed Zixu with slanderous words. Fu Chai believed it and gave Zixu a sword, and Zixu died with it. Zixu was a loyal man and regarded death as home. Before he died, he said to his neighbors: "After I die, dig out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Wu Jing to watch the Yue army enter the city and destroy Wu." Then he committed suicide and died. After hearing this, he was furious and ordered Zixu's body to be packed in leather and thrown into the river on May 5th. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also the day to commemorate Wu Zixu.

3. Commemorating the filial daughter Cao E

The third legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the filial daughter Cao E who saved her father and threw herself into the river in the Eastern Han Dynasty (23-220 AD). Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and her body was not seen for several days. At that time, her filial daughter Cao E was only fourteen years old and cried along the river day and night. Seventeen days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5th. Five days later, he took out his father's body. This was passed down as a myth, and then passed down to the county governor, who ordered Du Shang to erect a monument for it and his disciple Handan Chun to write a memorial in praise of it.

The tomb of the filial daughter Cao E is located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today. It is later said that the stele of Cao E was written by King Yi of the Jin Dynasty. In order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, later generations built the Cao E temple at the place where Cao E threw herself into the river. The village and town where she lived was renamed Cao E town, and the place where Cao E died for her father was named Cao E river. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to commemorate the filial daughter Cao E.

The significance of the Dragon Boat Festival:

In May 2009, China started the process of applying for the World Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Dragon Boat Festival. The declared heritage name is "Chinese Dragon Boat Festival", which was created by Hubei Province. It consists of four parts: "Dragon Boat Festival Customs in Qu Yuan's Hometown" in Zigui County, "Xisai Shenzhou Festival" in Huangshi City, "Dragon Boat Festival Customs in Miluo River Bank" in Hunan Miluo City, and "Suzhou Dragon Boat Festival Customs" in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. The application materials are composed of three provinces Joint "package". In October 2009, China submitted its application form and related materials to UNESCO.

The Fourth Meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO reviewed and approved the inclusion of the Dragon Boat Festival in the World Intangible Cultural Heritage List on September 30, 2009 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Festival has become China's first festival selected as a world intangible cultural heritage.