On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the fragrance of rice dumpling leaves fills the air. As the fresh scent of mugwort drifts through the streets and alleys, and the beats of dragon boat drums resound across rivers, we welcome once again the Dragon Boat Festival—a festival that carries millennia of cultural memory. Originating in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, this ancient festival has withstood the test of time and continues to thrive in the present day, serving as a cultural bridge that connects history and reality, tradition and innovation.

Where does the Dragon Boat Festival come from?

Tracing Origins: The Eternal Echo of the Miluo River

The most widely commonly told story about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is its connection to commemorating the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. In 278 BCE, when the Qin army breached the capital of the Chu state, Qu Yuan, overwhelmed by grief captured in his verse“I sigh deeply and wipe away tears, lamenting the hardships of the people”, threw himself into the Miluo River clasping a stone. The local people spontaneously rowed boats to search for his body, throwing rice balls and pouring realgar wine into the river in the hope that fish and shrimp would not harm his remains. This solemn tale has made the Dragon Boat Festival a spiritual totem of the Chinese nation’s love for home and country.

Beyond Qu Yuan, the festival carries other cultural memories: the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region honors Wu Zixu, a loyal minister of the Spring and Autumn period, while the Shangyu area passes down the moving legend of filial daughter Cao E, who drowned searching for her father’s body in the river. These diverse origin stories together sketch the festival’s cultural foundation of“remembering the deceased with reverence and promoting virtue and goodness”

Traditions: Life Wisdom Refined by Time

Over the long course of history, the Dragon Boat Festival has developed a complete system of customs, each embodying the ancient Chinese people’s wisdom for daily life:

Dragon Boat Races：Originating in the Warring States period, this collective activity began as an effort to retrieve Qu Yuan’s body, later evolving into a ritual to pray for favorable weather and abundant harvests. Today, dragon boat races are not just sports competitions but cultural symbols that unite communities. Events like the “dragon boat drifting” in Diejiao, Guangdong, and the “Royal Boat Sea Patrol” ceremony in Quanzhou, Fujian, draw global attention, showcasing the festival’s vibrant regional variations.

• Rice Dumplings: A Taste of TraditionFrom the jiaoshu (sticky rice dumplings wrapped in reed leaves) of the Warring States period to today’s creative varieties, these leaf-wrapped delicacies remain the festival’s centerpiece. Whether it’s the sweet date rice dumplings of northern China, the salty pork ones in the south, the spicy Sichuan pepper-studded dumplings in Sichuan, or the taro-filled ones in Guangxi—each regional flavor reflects gratitude for nature’s bounty and yearning for a good life. Notably, innovative versions like black truffle and scallop dumplings, or wholegrain health-conscious dumplings, have emerged this year, breathing new life into this traditional food.

  
  

  
  
  

• Warding Off Evil and Welcoming Blessings：Customs such as hanging mugwort and calamus, wearing five-colored threads, and drinking realgar wine were essentially the ancients’ “hygiene and epidemic prevention guide” for the hot, humid summer. The volatile substances in mugwort repel insects and purify the air, while five-colored threads symbolize the balance of the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth) in traditional Chinese philosophy. These poetic rituals embody the concept of harmony between humanity and nature.