Dragon Boat legend:

Qu Yuan was a Minister in the government of the state of Chu, descended of nobility and a champion of political loyalty and truth eager to maintain the Chu state's sovereignty. Qu Yuan advocated a policy of alliance with the other kingdoms of the period against the hegemonic state of Qin which threatened to dominate them all. The legend has it that the Chu king, however, fell under the influence of other corrupt jealous ministers who slandered Qu Yuan, and banished his most loyal counsellor. It is said that Qu Yuan returned first to his family's home town. During his exile he spent much of this time collecting legends and folk odes while travelling the countryside, producing some of the greatest poetry in Chinese Literature while expressing his love for his state and his concern for its future.

According to legend, his anxiety brought him to an increasingly troubled state of health which during his depression, he would often take walks near a well, during which he would look upon his reflection in the water and be his own person, thin and gaunt. In the legend, this well became known as the "Face Reflection Well." Today on a hillside in Xiangluping in Hubei province's Zigui, there is a well which is considered to be the original well from the time of Qu Yuan.

In 278 BC, learning of the capture of his country's capital, Ying, by General Bai Qi of the state of Qin, Qu Yuan is said to have written the lengthy poem of lamentation called Lament for Ying and later to have waded into the Miluo River in Hunan Province holding a great rock in order to commit suicide as a form of protest against the corruption of the era.

The origin of the Duan Wu Festival Popular legend has it that villagers carried their dumplings and boats to the middle of the river and desperately tried to save him, but were unsuccessful. In order to keep fish and evil spirits away from his body, they beat drums and splashed the water with their paddles. They threw rice into the water as a food offering to Qu Yuan and to distract the fish away from his body.

However, late one night, the spirit of Qu Yuan appeared before his friends and told them that he died because of a river dragon. He asked his friends to wrap their rice into three-cornered silk packages to ward off the dragon. These packages became a traditional food known as zongzi although the lumps of rice are now wrapped in reed leaves instead of silk. The act of racing to search for his body in boats gradually became the cultural tradition of dragon boat racing, which is held on the anniversary of his death every year.

Today, people still eat zòngzi and participate in dragon boat races to commemorate Qu Yuan's sacrifice on the Duan Yu festival, the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar The Koreans later adopted the festival from the Chinese and called it the Dano festival.