The Dragon Boat Festival is one of three major Chinese holidays, along with the Spring and
Moon Festivals. Of the three, it is possibly the oldest, dating back to the Warring States
Period in 227 B.C. The festival commemorates Qu Yuan, a minister in the service of the Chu
Emperor.
Despairing over corruption at court, Qu threw himself into a river. Townspeople jumped into
their boats and tried in vain to save him. Then, hoping to distract hungry fish from his body,
the people scattered rice on the water.
Over the years, the story of Qu's demise transformed into the traditions of racing dragon
boats and eating zongzi-a kind of rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. The races have certainly
captured the imagination of people from all over the world.
Every spring there are nearly 60 dragon boat races held outside of China in cities from
Vancouver to Sydney. Canada alone has nearly 50 dragon boat teams and Germany has
nearly 30.
So what is it about the Dragon Boat Festival that appeals to foreigners? "It's an unusual
sport," says one racer from Germany. "It's not like everybody's doing it. That's one of the
reasons that there's such great team spirit in a dragon boat team-everybody feels like
we're doing something special." And what about the zongzi? "Ehhh, they're not bad, I guess,"
he says. "Something of an acquired taste. I just haven't really acquired it yet."