21 Qu Yuan

A Great Poet Relating to Dragon-Boat Racing

Qu Yuan (340-278 BC) was the premier of Chu State ( in the mid and lower reaches of Yangtze River) in the Warring States Period. He had composed a lengthy history-honored poem Li Sao (literally Woe on Departure), that had been highly valued as a sister version of The Poetry Classics compiled by Confucius in the Spring & Autumn Period. People usually called the style of Qu Yuan’s poetry as “Chu Style Poetry” or “Sao Style Poetry”, even further called poets as “Sao People”. “Sao People” had later become a replacement name of poets or rhymists.

For thousands of years, people commemorated Qu Yuan not only for his historical masterpiece, but also his lofty moral integrity. After he was dismissed by the foolish Chu emperor who believed a slander framed up on him. He felt despair for nothing able to do for his crisis-riddled state and disaster-suffering people. After composing the poem Li Sao (Woe on Departure), he walked along the Miluo River (in Hunan Province) with loose-hair and bare-feet, and jumped into the water to drown himself. On hearing the sad news, people rushed out of their homes, rowing their boats searching around for him. People also made small rice packs throwing them into the water in a hope that fish should not hurt his body. People held the same activities year on year on his death anniversary, and finally the activities became a popular folk custom of boat-racing. Now people would hold dragon-boats racing carrying out on Duan Wu Festival (Dragon Boats Festival), as well as prepare deli called zongzi, a kind of small rice pack wrapped with bamboo leafs all over the country.