It is said in 340 BC, Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet and a senior official in the state of Chu, faced with the pain of national subjugation, threw himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of May. In order to prevent fish and other aquatic organisms from damaging his body, people put rice in bamboo tubes into the river. Subsequently, in order to show their reverence and nostalgia for Qu Yuan, people used bamboo tubes to put rice into the river in his memory. This is the origin of the earliest zongzi in China. After Qu Yuan jumped into the river, people rowing to find his body gradually evolved into today's dragon boat races in southern China. In recent years, this activity has crossed national boundaries and has won attention overseas. The Dragon Boat Festival became the first festival in China to be listed as a human oral and intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
