Qu Yuan's English introduction is not much.

There are many legends about the evolution of this festival, the most popular of which is to commemorate Qu Yuan (340-278 BC). Qu Yuan is the prime minister of Chu and one of the earliest poets in China. Facing the great pressure from the powerful Qin State, he advocated enriching Qiang Bing to fight against the Qin State. However, he was opposed by the nobles headed by Zilan, and was later deposed and exiled by Chu Huaiwang. During his exile, he still cared about his country and people, and wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Jiu Ge, which had a far-reaching influence. In 278 BC, he heard the news that the Qin army finally captured the capital of Chu, so he wrote the last song "Huai Sha", held a big stone and jumped into the Miluo River. This day happens to be the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in China.

After his death, the people of Chu gathered by the river to pay tribute to him. Fishermen sailed back and forth along the river looking for his body. People throw zongzi (pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in reeds or bamboo leaves) and eggs into the water to transfer fish or shrimp that may attack his body. An old doctor poured a pot of realgar wine into water, hoping to get all the aquatic animals drunk. This is why people later followed the customs of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine on that day.

According to the historian Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng, Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the use of talents, empowerment, and prosperity, and advocated joint resistance to Qin, which was strongly opposed by others. Qu Yuan was forced to leave his post, was driven out of the capital and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang river 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, eggs and other foods prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river, saying that ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs were full and would not bite the doctor. 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.