Last Wednesday was the Dragon Boat Festival here in China. This is only the second year that this has a been a national holiday but the festival has been celebrated for thousands of years.

Known here as Duanwu Jie, it falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar (approximately late May to mid-June). The holiday commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States Period.  Qu Yuan tried unsuccessfully to warn his king and countrymen against the expansionism of their Qin neighbours. When the Qin general Bai Qi, took the Chu capital, in 278 BC, Qu Yuan was supposedly so upset that he drowned himself in the Miluo River after writing the Lament for Ying. According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the poet’s body. Another version states that zongzi were given to placate a dragon that lived in the river.

Zongzi are triangles of glutinous rice stuffed with either sweet (red bean) or savoury (salty pork) fillings, wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed. Today they are widely eaten in China and Asia around this time of year. Some are put in fancy packaging and given away as gifts.

Here is a report from Taipei about zongzi http://taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/06/17/2003475694