端午节 (Dumplings festival)
The tradisional Chinese festival is just around the corner. Rice dumpling are selling everywhere. My grandmother made a lot for me to eat, yea I just ate one. Haha.
Known as Zong Zi in Chinese, contains glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves to form a pyramid shape.
Inside contains red beans, salted egg yolk, a small piece of pork, chestnut, mushroom, or simply without fillings.There's a history behind this festival. This festival is widely celebrated amongst the Chinese, to pay respect to the patriotict poet, Qu Yuan.
Qu YuanThe legend involves a really long and complicated throne-fighting war and political history. But to make a long story short: Qu Yuan was an important minister back in Chu Kingdom in ancient China. He had been known for his loyalty for the emperor of Chu, and loved his country greatly. However, His Majesty had not taken Qu Yuan's advice seriously, and he eventually got himself trapped and captured in a foreign land by his enemies, which then lead to his own death.
Sad and angry at the corrupted, dying Kingdom, Qu Yuan tied himself to a big rock and threw himself into the River of Puo Luo. The people then made rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves and threw them into the river. They believed this would stop the fish from eating Qu Yuan's body. Some would even row down stream in a boat, beating drums and shouting out loud in the hope to scare the fish away (it was believed that it is how the Dragon Boat event is related to the festival.
Dragon Boat Competition.Since then, the 5th day of the 5th month in the Chinese calendar has been set as Dumpling Festival to remember the incident. Although there were versions of legends and stories that indicate Duan Wu has existed way before Qu Yuan's death, the tradition still carries on.
