The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Ch

The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar. For thousands of years, the festival has been marked by eating Zongzi and racing dragon boats.
    The festival is best known for its dragon boat races, especially in the southern provinces where there are many rivers and lakes. This boat race commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, an honest minister who is said to have committed suicide by drowning himself in a river.
    Qu was a minister of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). He was upright, loyal and highly esteemed for his wise counsel that brought peace and prosperity to the state. However, when a dishonest and corrupt prince slandered Qu, he was disgraced and dismissed from office. Realizing that the country was now in the hands of evil and corrupt officials, Qu grabbed a large stone and leapt into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Nearby fishermen rushed over to try and save him but were unable to even recover his body. Thereafter, the state declined and was eventually conquered by the State of Qin.
    The people of Chu who mourned the death of Qu threw rice into the river to feed his ghost every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. But one year, the spirit of Qu appeared and told the mourners that a huge reptile in the river had stolen the rice. The spirit then advised them to wrap the rice in silk and bind it with five different-coloured threads before tossing it into the river.
    During the Duanwu Festival, a glutinous rice pudding called Zongzi is eaten to symbolize the rice offerings to Qu. Ingredients such as beans, lotus seeds, chestnuts, pork fat and the golden yolk of a salted duck egg are often added to the glutinous rice. The pudding is then wrapped in reed leaves, bound with a string and boiled for hours.