In ancient Chu, there lived a poet named Qu Yuan, who served as a high-ranking minister under King Huai of Chu. He put forward numerous proposals beneficial to the state and its people, earning him great favour from King Huai.
However, these proposals undermined the interests of the nobility, who conspired to frame Qu Yuan. Unaware of the truth, King Huai listened to slanderous words from treacherous officials and banished Qu Yuan from the capital city.
Qu Yuan wandered from place to place. During this period, he composed many masterful poems, including Li Sao (The Lament), Tian Wen (Heavenly Questions) and Jiu Ge (Nine Songs). To this day, people still recite these poems frequently.
Later, the State of Chu was conquered by the State of Qin. Overwhelmed by grief, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, after finishing his poem Huai Sha (Embracing Sand), Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River.
When the people of Chu heard the news, they gathered along the banks of the Miluo River to mourn Qu Yuan. Fishermen rowed boats back and forth across the river, hoping to retrieve his body.
Kind-hearted townsfolk tossed rice dumplings, eggs and other food into the river, wishing that the fish and shrimp would eat their fill and leave Qu Yuan’s body untouched. Others poured realgar wine into the river, saying it would intoxicate flood dragons lurking in the water and stop them from harming Qu Yuan.
Later, fearing the rice balls would be eaten by the dragons, people came up with the idea of wrapping glutinous rice in chinaberry leaves and binding the parcels with colourful silk threads — this evolved into zongzi, rice dumplings.
Ever since then, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month each year, people hold dragon boat races, eat zongzi and drink realgar wine to commemorate the great poet Qu Yuan. Today, the Dragon Boat Festival has been inscribed on China’s cultural heritage list, a traditional festival celebrated nationwide.
古代楚国有位诗人，名叫屈原，是楚怀王的大臣。他提出了许多对国家和百姓有益的建议，受到了楚怀王的器重。 可是这些建议损害了贵族们的利益，他们设计陷害屈原。楚怀王不明真相，听信了奸臣的坏话，把屈原赶出了都城。 屈原四处漂泊，在这期间，他写下很多优秀的诗篇，比如《离骚》《天问》《九歌》等。今天，人们还常常念诵这些诗。 后来，楚国被秦国灾了。屈原万分悲伤，五月初五那天，他写完《怀沙》这首诗之后，跳进了汨（mì）罗江。 楚国的百姓听说之后，就聚集在汨罗江边，哀悼屈原。还有渔夫划起船只，在江上来回寻找，想把他打捞上来。 好心的百姓把饭团、鸡蛋等食物丢进江里，希望鱼虾们吃饱了，不去咬屈原的身体。还有人把雄黄酒倒进江里，说要把水中的蛟龙灌醉，免得它们伤害屈原。 后来，怕饭团为蛟龙所食，人们想出用楝树叶包饭，外缠彩丝，发展成粽子。 从那以后，每年五月初五，人们就赛龙舟、吃粽子、喝雄黄酒，纪念伟大的诗人屈原。今天，端午節已经被列入我国的文化遗产，成为一个举国庆祝的传统节日。
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