The Dragon Boat Festival..is one of the most important traditional festivals of the Asian giant, and is held each year on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, which this 2017 coincides with May 30.
Beijing.- When Qu Yuan, Chinese poet and patriot of ancient times, learned that his kingdom had fallen into enemy hands, he threw himself into the Miluo River, with a rock in his arms. Living in exile after frustrated efforts to save his native Chu, the scholar offered his own life as a sacrifice to his homeland.
Legend has it that, on learning of the incident, the local fishermen organized expeditions in their boats, adorned with dragons, to search for the admired poet and try to save him. For days, they ploughed through the waters of this tributary of the Xiang River, and as Qu Yuan could not be rescued, they set about chasing away and feeding the fish with zongzi (glutinous rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves) in order to prevent them from eating his body.