The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu Festival, has a history of more than 2,000 years. It is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, which falls on June 7 this year.
There are many legends about the origins of the festival. One of the best known says that it commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a poet, scholar, and adviser of the Chu state during the Warring States Period of China’s Zhou Dynasty (475–221 B.C.).
