The Origins Of The Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional holiday that celebrates Chinese cultures and in celebrated all over Asia. Known as the Duanwu Festival in Mandarin and the Tuen Ng Festival in Cantonese is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calender, which in 2009 falls on May 28 and in 2010 on June 16.
The origins of the Dragon Boat Festival are in dispute. One story holds that the festival was traditionally held to commemorates the death of the poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan was a member of the ancient royal family who was banished for treason. While in exile, he wrote poetry until he killed himself after China was conquered on the fifth day of the fifth month.
The other theory on the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival comes from the former territory of the state of Wu and commemorates Wu Zixu. Wu Zixu was an advisor whose advice was ignored by the King. Wu Zixu committed suicide and his body was thrown in the river on the fifth day of the fifth ninth. Wu Zixu was treated after his death as a river god.
The last theory suggests that the Dragon Boat Festival celebrates the superimposed holiday that combines the stories of Qu Yuan and Wu Zixu. Lastly, some argue that the Dragon Boat Festival simply is a celebration of the ancient worship of dragons.
Qu Yuan [Chu Yuan] – The Great Poet
Chu Yuan [Qu Yuan 
] (340?-278 b.c.), the chief poet in the Songs of Chu, was a member of the ruling house, a stateman and diplomat. In his youth, he has a brilliant official career and was made a court minister and at one time the Chu envoy to Chi (in Shantung), a great neiboring state. But Chu Yuan’s comet-like success incurred the jealousy of his fellow ministers, who slandered and intrigued against him. In consequence Chu Yuan lost the king’s favor and was dismissed from office. There were several ups and downs in his career – for after each banishment he was recalled to court, only to be again rebuffed and disgraced. In the meantime, his country was in danger. Failing to heed Chu Yuan’s advice, the king of Chu foolishly went to a conference with the king of Chin (in Shensi), the most powerful military state in that period; he was held there by the Chin army and died in captivity. His son, the new king, instead of avenging his father’s death, made a humiliating peace with his enemy. This, however, did not deter Chin’s aggressive designs against Chu, and Chu Yuan, who had started his exile as a result of his political failure, lived long enough to see the capital of his state plundered and ruined by the conquering army of Chin in 278 b.c. At that time, Chu Yuan was already an old man of over sixty, and the fall of the Chu capital was the last blow to his patriotic hope. He does not seem to have long survived his diaster, for the next we hear of him is that he had drowned himself in the river Mi-lo.
Tradition says that his death occurred on the fifth day of the fifth moon (month). Ever since, the day is celebrated as the Day of Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate his drowning.
As the first known great poet in China, Chu Yuan has been called the father of Chinese poetry and has become, in the opinion of some, a national culture hero.
