The Legend of Qū Yuán

Qū Yuán was an actual person. He was in the court of the Chu state. However, he was not being valued by the head of the state. He was sent to exile a number of times. The head of the state would not care for his citizens that had been Qū Yuán's worry.

Legend has it, on May 5th, disheartened as he was he decided he would not want to see the downfall of his beloved country. At the bank of Miluo River, he said his good-bye to his country and leaped into the river.

The news of the death of Qū Yuán shocked the nearby villages. The villagers were afraid that the fish and the dragon in the river would feed on his remains. They quickly put together teams of cook to assemble food wrap inside leaves. Teams of boats to dunk the wrapped food into the river.

Ever since then, in honor of Qū Yuán who died on the fifth day of May, we have food wrapped in leaves which are called zongzi and dragon boat race on May 5th of the lunar calendar.

Coming up next is the legend of the White Serpent if you are interested, please visit my Blogger site. I will be posting the story on May 28th to 30th.