Of Duan Wu Jie

Duan Wu Jie or Dragon Boat Festival.. is much better known for its Rice Dumplings..


Sadly, many has forgotten the origins of why these dumplings were created and who these dumplings commemorate..


So here we have.. Qu Yuan..

I'm not going to embark on some history lesson.. but basically this old man is supposed to be patriotic and at the same time suicidal.. he tried to advise his king(during the China Warring States era) about the danger of Qin Kingdom but he kind of ignored him.. when a city fell or something, he was so upset that he could not help his country (Chu Kingdom) that he threw himself into a river..

so it seems like someone found out and tried to fish him out.. but no success.. as the people were pretty sure that he's a goner by then.. they decided to dump rice dumpling into the river to prevent the fishes from eating his flesh..


the search and rescue mission, combined with the rice dumpling delivery team, would be reduced to the Dragon Boat Festival of today..


and so, for the 5th day of the 5th month of every Lunar year.. people started rowing dragon boats and eating rice dumplings.. firstly to commemorate this gentlemen and more currently because the rice dumplings taste great..










Have you had your bar zhang(rice dumpling)?