Today, 22 Jun 2023, is the Dragon Boat Festival (Dyun-Ng-Jit in Cantonese). This is a traditional Chinese holiday on the 15th May of the Lunar calendar, which corresponds to late May or June in the Gregorian calendar. A commemoration of the ancient poet Qu Yuan, the holiday is celebrated by holding dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings called zongzi.
這個節日在中國眾所周知是為了紀念戰國時期楚國詩人兼大臣屈原（公元前 340-278 年）逝世。 當楚王決定與日益強大的秦國結盟時，屈原作為大臣，因反對結盟而被指控為謀反罪而被貶。 他在流亡期間寫了大量詩歌。 最終，秦國攻占了楚國。 屈原絕望之下投汨羅江自盡。
It is well known in China that this festival commemorates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan (340–278 BC) of the state of Chu during the Warring States period. When the king of Chu decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu Yuan as a higher minister, was banished for accused of treason since his opposing the alliance. He wrote a great deal of poetry during his exile. Eventually, Qin captured the capital of Chu. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River.
The origin of dragon boat races is said that the local people who admired him were raced out in their boats to save him, or at least retrieve his body. And the the origin of various zongzi (Chinese rice dumpling) is that when his body could not be found, the rescuers dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan's body.
1 comment:
This was an interesting article. I knew much of the information, but not all of it. For example, I didn't know that he protested an alliance between his kingdom and another one. I also didn't know that he lived in exile for a period of time before committing suicide.
You say that you include "colloquial Cantonese" in your (Chinese) article. Could you cite an example of colloquial Cantonese in this article? I am not able to tell the difference between proper and colloquial Chinese in this article. Thank you!
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