As an ancient Chinese activity, dragon boat racing can be traced back over 2,000 years.
It is an indivisible part of celebrations of the Duanwu Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the traditional Chinese calendar.
There are multiple theories about the origin of dragon boat racing. One of the most popular theories attributes it to have originated among the fishing communities along the Yangtze River in southern-central China.
It was initially a folk ritual designed to pray to the rain gods for rainfall and a bumper harvest, but later associated with Qu Yuan's death (C. 340 – 278 BC).
Qu Yuan is known for his patriotism and his poetry and verses. He was a poet and high-ranking politician of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) who was exiled from his state by a corrupt king.
When he heard that enemies had destroyed his court, he drowned himself out of sorrow in the Miluo River. One of the popular legends is that villagers raced their boats in the river to rescue his body and threw zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) into the water to prevent fish from eating his corpse, but they could not find him.
Dragon boat racing has evolved throughout the years and become a traditional watercraft activity and was later popularized internationally through the Olympic Games and many sports enthusiasts across the globe. And the legend of Qu Yuan has become a well-known story in China and other Asian countries.
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