Qu Yuan and the Dragon Boat Festival

About this story

Qu Yuan was a real poet and minister of the kingdom of Chu in the Warring States period (traditionally about 340–278 BC, though the exact years are uncertain). His life here follows Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), in the Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Yi: the jealous official Shangguan, the poem Li Sao, Qin's trick of 'six hundred li', King Huai's fatal trip to Qin, Qu Yuan's exile, his talk with a fisherman and his death in the Miluo River. The Shiji says nothing about zongzi, boat races or the fifth day of the fifth month: those were attached to him by later tradition, in Wu Jun's 6th-century Xu Qi Xie Ji and in Zong Lin's Jingchu Suishi Ji with its early commentary, and this version tells them as legends.

Tips for telling it

• Qu Yuan's death is told gently. If children ask why, you can say he was heartbroken about his country, and that sad feelings are something to share with people who love us.
• Tell it in the days before the Dragon Boat Festival, and make or buy zongzi together while you talk about where the custom comes from.
• Older children can sort the story into history and legend: which parts did Sima Qian record, and which grew up around Qu Yuan centuries later?

Questions people ask

Why do people eat zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival?

By tradition, zongzi honour Qu Yuan. Wu Jun's 6th-century book of tales, the Xu Qi Xie Ji, says the people of Chu threw rice in bamboo tubes into the river for him every fifth day of the fifth month, until his spirit asked them to seal it with leaves and bind it with coloured silk so a river dragon could not steal it. Tradition traces zongzi to this story.

Why are there dragon boat races?

Tradition says the races recall the people of Chu rowing out to search for Qu Yuan after he drowned in the Miluo River; Zong Lin's 6th-century Jingchu Suishi Ji (Record of Seasonal Customs in Jing-Chu) and its early commentary give this explanation. Many historians think boat races on this day are older, and in some regions they honoured other figures, such as Wu Zixu.

Who was Qu Yuan?

A poet and minister of the kingdom of Chu in the Warring States period, often called China's first great poet known by name. He wrote Li Sao ('Encountering Sorrow') and other poems collected in the Songs of Chu (Chuci). Slandered and exiled, he drowned himself in the Miluo River, in today's Hunan province.

When is the Dragon Boat Festival?

On the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which usually falls in late May or June. Its Chinese name is Duanwu, and in 2009 it was added to UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.