One of the most significant holidays in Chinese-speaking communities is the Dragon Boat Festival. The celebration dates back over 2,000 years, and there are several stories relating to it. Two of these legends involve Qu Yuan and Cao E.
The most popular origin story of the Dragon Boat Festival features an actual historical figure of ancient China. Born around 339 B.C. in Hunan, Qu Yuan is one of the most famous Chinese poets in history, renowned for his vividimagination. In his role as top counselor to the ruler of the Kingdom of Chu, he recommended an alliance with the State of Qi to battle the strongest state of the time, the State of Qin. Qu Yuan’s rivals, however, plotted against him and succeeded inhaving him exiled to south of the Yangtze River. During this time, he traveled around the Chu region, writing many poems. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, upon learning that the Qin State had captured the capital of Chu, he killed himself by jumping into the Miluo River. According to legend, people threw clumps of rice in the river in order to keep the fish from eating his corpse.
