At the end of the Zhou Dynasty, China, as we know it now, was in a state of division and conflict. When the Zhou dynasty ruled for centuries, several other countries that were originally feudal territories tried to establish their own kingdoms. Qin finally won the victory and unified China for the first time in history.

Qu Yuan served as the minister of the Zhou Emperor. He is a clever and eloquent man and is loved by ordinary people. He did a lot of work to crack down on rampant corruption that plagued the court, so he won the envy and fear of other officials. Therefore, when he urged the emperor to avoid conflict with Qin, officials put pressure on the emperor to retire. During his exile, he traveled, taught and wrote for several years. Hearing that Zhou was defeated by Qin, he threw himself into the river in despair. His last poem wrote:

I gave many heavy sighs in despair, lamenting that I was born in such an unfortunate era. I put a team of Yulong on a phoenix car, waiting for the wind to come, and it turned sour during my journey. Because he was so loved by the people, fishermen rushed out in long boats, beat drums to scare the fish away, and threw zongzi into the water to feed the brave fish, so that they wouldn't eat Qu Yuan's body.

Modern Dragon Boat Festival