The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival has many legends－from Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet in the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) to offering sacrifice to the dragons.

Qu Yuan is not the only legend linked to the proceedings. Wu Zixu, a general of the Wu state in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), Gou Jian, a king also in the Spring and Autumn Period who suffered humiliation before defeating his adversary and Cao E, in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) who was so filial to her drowned father that she threw herself into the river－are also linked to the festival.

Jiang Shaoyuan, a folklore scholar, published an article in 1926, analyzing the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. He believed it was primarily about public health. He thinks boat racing is actually to deal with public health issues mixed with a touch of "magic".

Patriotic poet Wen Yiduo (1899-1946) proposed the theory of offering sacrifice to the dragon. He considered that the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese lunar calendar, Dragon Day, originated from the Wuyue people in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Wen realized that the zongzi, a traditional Dragon Boat Festival treat made of glutinous rice, plays a hugely symbolic role. It is wrapped in reed leaves to be placed in water and "eaten by dragons".