【正确答案】Dragon Boat Festival
The fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar, known as the Dragon Boat Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival to commemorate Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of the Chu State. The Chinese have the tradition of eating
zongzi (dumpling made of glutinous rice), and having dragon boat race on this day.
According to
Historical Records, Qu Yuan was a minister of the Chu State during the period of the Warring States (475BC-221BC). He passionately advocated selecting government functionaries according to their competence, making the state and the army strong and allying with the Qi State to fight Qin. Chu's aristocrats strongly opposed him. Later Qu Yuan was framed and sent into exile. In 278 BC, Qin's army captured Chu's capital. Hearing this sad news, Qu Yuan, totally disillusioned, drowned himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
It was said that upon heating the news of Qu Yuan's death, local people in the Chu State rushed to the river bank to show their respect for him. Fishermen rowed on the river, trying hard to retrieve his body. They threw rice balls and eggs into the water, hoping to keep fish, shrimps and crabs from hurting the poet's body. To prevent the giant dragon from eating the rice balls, local people later wrapped the rice balls with bamboo leaves and bound them with colorful threads, which explains how zongzi has come into being.