Dragon Boat Festival and Chu Yuan

Chu Yuan was a high official of CHU Kingdom, one of the 7 strongest of that time. That period of time in China history is quite turbulent, when every kingdom was trying hard to survive from chaos and to take over as much land from others to get larger. With an insight of that situation, Chu Yuan tried to persuade King of CHU to build close political and military relationships with several other kingdoms to resist invasion of Qin, a then powerhouse. But he failed, many times, and then was exiled from his country due to these attempts.

On May 5, 278 B.C, when Chu Yuan knew that the capital city of CHU had been occupied by Qin's army, he wrote his last poem and throwed himself into MINLUO River, holding a big rock to eliminate last chance of life.

Though his suggestions was not appreciated by his king, Chu Yuan was still a household name known for his loyalty for his nation. When news went out that Chu Yuan was committing a suicide in river, people all around hurried out boating to rescue, but too late. Seeing last hope was gone, people took out cooked rice and put them into the river to lure fishes and shrimps away and his body could be preserved.

Besides loyalty, Chu Yuan was also a renown for his talent in poetry. After exile, Chu Yuan wrote some long poems to express his love for the country, hopelessness of the current situation and determination never to give up.

Ever since then, boating in MINLUO River and eating rice on May 5th comes into a tradition in Chu Yuan's memory, an honor well deserved for a man like him.

Origin and Traditions about Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival, known in Chinese as DUAN WU JIE, is celebrated on 5th of May in Chinese calendar, or Lunar Calendar.

On that day, people across China eats ZONGZI,a kind of food made from rice and wrapped up in bamboo leaf, and holds boat race in MINLUO River located in ZIGUI County, HUBEI Provice. All boats used in the race have dragon head sculptures on both ends to make the whole boat looks like a dragon, so these boats are often referred to as Dragon Boat, and this festival is also called Dragon Boat Festival.

This tradition has been handed down from one generation to another and dates back over 2000 years. The most popular version of its origin has it that this festival is in honor of Chu Yuan, an ancient patriot and poet who drown himself in MINLUO River on that day (5th of May, 278 B.C), after all his endeavors failed to save his country.

Stay tunned and I'll update with more about Chu Yuan and you'll know why he deservs such an respect and why people eats ZONGZI and held boat race on this festival.

First post: How this blog get started

THere is an old Chinese saying that reads, literally, NO WIND, NO WAVE, means that everything comes for a reason. So does this blog.

Currently I'm a engineer making a living doing IT stuff in Shanghai, China. Also, I'm a fan of Chinese culture and tradition, which are the things that I spend most of my spare time on when not doing technology.

After reading some news and posts about the argument about DuanWu Festival, or Dragon Boat Festival, between China and S.K., I think it could be fun to write a blog introducing Chinese traditions to non-Chinese but are interested.

Frankly, that argument or depute didn't really concerns me that much. I believe that whatever belongs to you can not be taken away. Even they're, they'll find their way back, eventually.

Anyway, here I am and I'll try to update it as often as I can. So please leave me a message here or mail me at alancheng618@gmail.com if you're interested in posting here, how this blog should go from here, or even own it.

Thanks and enjoy, hopefully.
Alan(H0n9b0)