3 The Dragon Boat Festival

Nowadays, when it's close to the 5th day of the 5th month in the Chinese calendar year, rice dumplings will be found in most food shops. Various ingredients can be used to fill the dumplings. In the old days, there were also games that involved the dumplings. There were races for unwrapping the dumplings (the leaves used for wrapping this kind of dumpling could not be eaten), and there were also competitions for people to shoot the dumplings from a distance. As for the dragon boat race, an international boat race event is held in Hong Kong annually during the Dragon Boat Festival. Top teams from all over the world will come over to participate. On the day of the race, coloured flags will be put up, together with the sounds of drums and the shouts of athletes, a very lively atmosphere will be produced. In the race, everyone must row according to the rhythm of the drum, so rowing not only makes one stronger physically, but it also builds up team spirit.

There is apparently no definitive answer to the question of how, and when did people first started to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. The legend began with a patriotic poet called Qu Yuan (340 BC - 278 BC) in the Warring States Period (475 BC - 221 BC). The most famous work of his is surely a poem entitled Li Sao--the longest sentimental poem in the Chinese classical literature. It is a very touching piece of work, in which he had shown a very deep passion for his country. Qu was a government official, although throughout his life he was being attacked scathingly by other officials, he remained true to himself all the time and he stuck to what he believed to be good for the country; also, he often criticised selfish people who put themselves above all else. His persistence in achieving the good and his attack the dark side of bad people are the most loved aspects of the poem. Moreover, his courage in offering honest suggestions without thinking about his own life is also well-respected by future generations.

With the outstanding ability to speak and to think honestly the king made Qu a major official when he was young. He had been a very loyal official in the State of Chu. At that time, it was a turbulent period, with Qin being the strongest state of all. He was constantly making wise suggestions to the king, hoping that the state could be strengthened, so they would be able to resist the ambitious Qin. However, implementing his ideas would affect the benefit of the nobles and other powerful persons, so they started making false accusations against him. The king then started to keep him at a distance and eventually sent him into exile. Shortly afterwards, Qin invaded Chu, and Qin easily won the war. He sensed that the end of Chu was near, and that his aspirations would never come true, so he committed suicide by drowning himself in the river out of frustration.

When the people of Chu learned about this, everyone rushed to the riverside, but of course it was already too late. Some of them mourned his death, others cried. In order to ensure that his body would remain intact, people rowed boats on the river and produced noises with drums and gongs so as to scare the fish in the river away. They also threw food into the river so that the fish would feed on those instead of Qu's body. This was the origin of the dragon boat race and dumplings.

Qu chased his dreams all through his life. In the choice between maintaining his belief and risking his life, he chose the former. Even though he came across a lot of obstacles in the process, he always faced them positively.