In Shangyu, Zhejiang, there is a river called "Cao E River". This river was named in memory of the filial daughter Cao E.
Cao E, a native of the Eastern Han Dynasty, whose father Cao Xu was a sorcerer, often rowed his boat to the river to do some singing to welcome the gods.
In the second year of Han'an, 143 AD, Cao E was exactly fourteen years old. One day, Cao Xu rowed a small boat upstream from the Shun River to meet the tide god. Unexpectedly, something unexpected happened, and suddenly there was a storm on the river. The boat was overturned by a big wave, and like a fallen leaf, it was immediately swallowed by the river, and Cao Xu fell into the river.
Due to the strong wind and waves on the river, people on the shore were at a loss when faced with this sudden change and were unable to salvage and rescue them in time, so they had to leave with a sigh. The bad news reached the Cao family. When Cao E heard the news that her father had fallen into the river, she ran to the river crying, calling for her father in grief, and kept searching for her father along the river.
In this way, one day, two days, and three days passed. Cao E kept searching and calling day and night by the river, and his cries almost spread throughout the entire river. However, after three days in a row, he could not be found, and his father's life or death was still uncertain. Cao E cried all her tears, didn't eat or sleep, and stayed on the shore day and night to search hard. People sympathized with her very much and came to advise her to take care of herself. Cao E told everyone: Unless she finds her father, she will never do anything. give up.
After searching and waiting by the river for more than ten days and nights, Cao E knew that it was impossible to find her father if she continued like this, so she threw her clothes into the river and knelt down. On the shore, she said to the river: "Father, if you are alive in heaven, please fulfill your daughter's filial piety and let the clothes sink where you are!" Strangely enough, the clothes she threw up followed the river. After drifting for a certain distance, it circled a few times in one place and then sank. Seeing this, Cao E quickly followed the place where the clothes sank and jumped down.
Five days later, the river became extremely calm. Someone vaguely saw two corpses floating on the river downstream. Looking closer, it turned out that it was Cao E who was carrying her father on her back. Although both father and daughter were breathless and their bodies were cold, Cao E still carried her father tightly on her back and did not relax at all. Everyone present shed tears when they saw this. They all said that it was Cao E's sincere filial piety that moved the River God, so she allowed her to retrieve her father's body underwater and bring them to the surface. After the local county magistrate learned about it, he was deeply moved by Cao E's filial piety and heroic deeds. He ordered their father and daughter to be buried properly, and a monument was erected to record the deeds of the filial daughter Cao E for people to pay their respects and remember.
Later, in order to commemorate Cao E, people built the "Cao E Temple" at the place where she threw herself into the river. The village where Cao E lived was also renamed "Cao E Village". The Shun River It was renamed "Cao'e River". Legend has it that the day Cao E threw herself into the river to save her father was the fifth day of May. Therefore, a series of local commemorative activities for the Dragon Boat Festival are naturally related to Cao E.
Nowadays, every Dragon Boat Festival, people celebrate the festival in various ways. However, when we are immersed in the joyful atmosphere of the festival, will we still remember this sad and touching story and understand it? Where is the true love and meaning?
Honoring parents is a traditional Chinese virtue and the foundation of life. We are one with our parents, and our parents are the foundation of our lives. If we forget our filial piety and don't know how to repay kindness, our family, career and life will be like water without a source and a tree without a root. How can we flourish and bear fruit? I pray that all children in the world will not forget the fundamentals of their lives, practice filial piety in time, and make the trees of our families, careers and life futures deep-rooted and evergreen as soon as possible.