The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates Qu Yuan (屈原) The earliest version is from the Southern Dynasty.

The Duanwu Festival commemorates Qu Yuan (屈原), the earliest of which came from the Liang Dynasty's Wu Jun (吳均), "The Record of Qi Harmony" (续齐谐记), and the Southern Dynasty's Zong Security Department's (荊楚歲時記).

Legend has it that Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month, and after his death, he was trapped by the mosquito dragons, and the people of Chu were in mourning, and they flocked to the Miluo River to pay their respects to him. The fishermen rowed up their boats and salvaged his real body on the river. A fisherman took out for Qu Yuan prepared rice balls, eggs and other food, "flop, flop" thrown into the river, said that the fish and lobsters and crabs eat enough, they will not go to bite the body of Dr. Qu. People followed suit.

An old doctor brought a altar of yellow wine poured into the river, said to be the drug stunned dragon water beasts, so as not to harm Dr. Qu. Later, for fear of rice balls for the dragon eat, people came up with neem leaves wrapped rice, wrapped in colorful silk, the development of brown. Another rumor, Qu Yuan cast the Buro River, the local people heard the news immediately rowing rescue, has been traveling to Dongting Lake, the end of Qu Yuan's body. At that time, coinciding with the rainy day, the lake boat together gathered at the shore of the pavilion.

When people learned that it was the salvage of the wise minister Qu Daifu, once again braved the rain, scrambling to row into the vast Dongting Lake. In order to send their condolences, people swung their boats over the river, which has since evolved into a dragon boat race.

Duanwu Festival folk activities:

Duanwu Festival is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation, which not only clearly records the rich and colorful social and cultural content of the ancestors, but also accumulated a profound historical and cultural connotations. Sacrificing dragons, stealing dragon boats, eating rice dumplings, praying for blessings, and warding off evil spirits are the customary themes of the Dragon Boat Festival, and the culture of dragons and dragon boats has been carried through the historical inheritance of the Dragon Boat Festival. Because of the vast area, the customs of the north and south are different, plus many stories and legends, so not only produced a number of different festival name, but also the north and south have different customs.