Becky Wildkid

China has too many festivals to celebrate, sometime its just hard for me to know why to celebrate, I use to think all about festival in China is eating and drinking; lol. However this one, the Dragon Boat Festival, its one of the most traditional festival in china. There is a romantic story behind it, about a great Chinese Historic Celebrity, named Qu Yuan which made it more special than the other festivals in China. Letz go back to some high school reviews about a part of Chinese history.

Qu Yuan, was born in Yichang, 340 BC, during the Warring States Period. In the Period of Warring States, there were seven states struggling among themselves to unify China. Of the seven states, Qin was the strongest and Chu the largest. Qu Yuan was considered to be both; the Famous Chinese Scholar-Statesman and the First Poet in Chinese Literature. During his lifetime, the powerful kingdom of Chu fell into a decline. As a loyal minister, Qu Yuan at first enjoyed the full confidence and respect of his sovereign. Eventually, through the intrigues of his rivals, he was discredited and sent into exile for 20 years.

During those desperate years, Qu Yuan helplessly watched his beloved country became weaker and weaker. In the year 278 BC, the capital of Chu was occupied by troops from Qin. In great pain, Qu Yuan wrote “Lisao” or “The Lament”, the greatest of all his poems. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, he drowned himself in the Milo River which is now in Hunan Province, because he was hopeless about his country’s future.

Qu Yuan died thousands of years ago, but he is remembered every year for his love and loyalty to his country and his people. In his poems, he wrote:

                                            “Long did I sigh and wipe away my tears,
                                                         To see my people bowed by grieves and fears.
　　　　                                The people’s sufferings move my heart,
                                                                 Our land I cannot leave”.

People grieve for those who have grieved for them. Each year, during the Duanwu Festival, the day of Qu Yuan’s death, people race dragon boats and eat the pyramid-shaped dumplings named Zongzi to commemorate him. This is believed to be a representation of how the people of Chu tried, at the time, to recover Qu Yuan’s body from the Milo River. They rowed the dragon boat to scare away the fish and threw Zongzi into the river to feed the fish, so they would stay away from Qu Yuan’s body.

To the Chinese the Duanwu Festival is more than the Dragon Boat Race and Zongzi. This day is customarily the time when cleaning and sanitation are stressed, because the fifth lunar month has been believed to be a pestilential and danger-fraught period since antiquity. Every family in my hometown will hang artemisia above the door as a preventive against pestilence and misfortune. And in Wuhan and its adjacent area, some girls will knit little bags with red threads to contain salted duck eggs (one bag contains one egg) and give them to their relatives and friends. Eggs in China are customarily regarded to be a symbol to keep away the evil.
　　
However, people from different area in China may have their special ways to celebrate this festival. In Qingdao I still remember when I was a child, mom used to put a 5 color thread on around my hand to bring good luck and keep away evils. Then you have to throw it into the rain at the first rainy day after the festival. Most of the other places they celebrate by drinking the realger wine; make and collect the sachets, hang some herbs at the door during the Dragon Boat Festival, and so on.

I like Dragon Boat Festival better than the other festivals in China for three reasons: First, enjoy the delicious food, Zongzi and sticky-rice Baba (a kind of food seems like steamed stuffed bun); Second, see the Dragon Boat Race and last but not least, recall the great poet Qu Yuan.

Remember if you are in China during this Special Festival :

Where to go : Hang Zhou, Fu jian, Hong Kong, Hu Bei
What to eat : ZONG ZI, Eggs
What to see : Dragon Boat Racing, Miao Hui

BECKS