Qu Yuan (about 340 ~ 278 BC), Han nationality, was born in Danyang, Chu during the Warring States Period. His surname is Qu, Ming Ping, the original word, the correct name and the even word. He was a native of Chu State in the Warring States Period and the earliest great poet in the history of China literature. Although Qu Yuan was loyal to Chu Huaiwang, he was repeatedly rejected. After the death of King Huai, Xiang Wang was exiled because he listened to slanderers, and finally died in the Miluo River. Qu Yuan is one of the greatest romantic poets in China, and also the earliest known famous poet and world cultural celebrity in China. He initiated the style of "Chu Ci" and the tradition of "vanilla beauty". There are 25 pieces of his works, namely: Nine Songs, Evocation, Tian Wen, Li Sao, Nine Chapters, Buju and Fisherman. His representative works include Li Sao and Nine Songs.
According to Records of the Historian Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng, Qu Yuan's proposition of promoting talents and empowering people, and persuading the country to unite with Qin were strongly opposed by others. Qu Yuan took bribes and bent the law, resigned himself to it, was driven out of the capital and exiled to the Yuan and Hunan basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Tian Wen, which have a unique style and far-reaching influence (therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Poet's Day). In 278 BC, Qin Jun conquered Kyoto of Chu. Seeing that his motherland was invaded, Qu Yuan was heartbroken, but he was always reluctant to give up his motherland. On May 5th, after writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he died in Miluo River and wrote a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life.
Legend has it that after Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were so sad that they flocked to the Miluo River to pay homage to Qu Yuan. The fisherman paddled the boat and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls and eggs prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river, saying that as long as there were enough fish, dragons, shrimps and crabs, he would not bite the doctor's body. People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that he would stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, people were afraid that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, so they came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves and then wrapping it with colored silk to make it develop into brown seeds.
Since then, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, there has been the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
According to Wen Yiduo's "Dragon Boat Festival Examination", the Dragon Boat Festival existed in wuyue before Quyuan threw himself into the river. But from the death of Qu Yuan more than 2,200 years ago to today, it has been recognized as a sacrifice to Qu Yuan by the mainstream of China society.