How dragon boat races got started

I missed the recent Dragon Boat race in Peachtree City, but having two Chinese daughters has led me to learn some of the roots of the Dragon Boat race tradition. If you’re game for a story from a different culture, read on.

First, you should know the mythical dragon is the most revered symbol in China, a friend and fierce protector of the people against evil spirits and a prized source of good luck. But the story goes far deeper than that.

Nearly 3,000 years ago in the land that is now China, the Zhou dynasty began its 800-year rule. Its boundaries grew to such an extent it could not be ruled from one central location and the emperor appointed regents to rule various regions.

The first half of the Zhou dynasty brought peace and prosperity. Writing and philosophy and artistic expression flourished. Then, after many generations and hundreds of years passed, the local rulers began to resent sending tax money to the emperor and they coveted the territory and wealth of their neighboring regents. The peace disappeared with wars that fractured the country into hundreds of fighting factions, a time known in Chinese history as The Warring States Period.

For hundreds of years, generations of Chinese knew nothing but constant warfare where they were conscripted to fight and many died. Their fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers knew nothing but the same constant warfare. The people’s weariness with war was reflected in the arts and philosophy of the time, and there was a nostalgic yearning for a return to the peace known in the first half of the Zhou dynasty.

Confucius lived during the Warring States period. He developed an ethical philosophy, a system of knowing one’s place and behaving appropriately to preserve peace and order. Confucianism would, in later years, form the basis of Chinese thought and behavior, and civil service applicants were expected to study and pass Confucianism exams in China for the next 2,000 years. That philosophy remains a strong influence today.

But before Confucianism spread, the wars continued. As one small faction conquered another, consolidation led eventually to seven warring states, each struggling to conquer the others. The wars lasted so long the people came to regard their state as their sovereign country.

One of these seven warring states was Chu, in the region currently known as the Hunan and Hubei provinces of China. A man named Qu Yuan was a poet and a trusted advisor to King Huai. Qu Yuan was admired by the common people because he was loyal to the people of Chu and his king, and did much to fight against the rampant corruption that plagued the king’s court, earning the envy and hostility of other court officials.

The competing state of Qin took its name from its king and was the strongest and most threatening state. Qin proposed an alliance with Chu against the other states, but Qu Yuan warned his king that Qin would betray and conquer their state of Chu. Qu Yuan advocated strengthening Chui’s military forces to fight against the Qin.

Corrupt court officials whispered lies about Qu Yuan to King Huai, less loyal subjects maneuvering for their own personal advantage. Eventually King Huai believed them. He banished Qu Yuan to exile, betrayed the other states and accepted the alliance with the strong state of Qin.

Qin did, indeed, violate the agreement and conquer Chu, and went on to conquer all the remaining states to consolidate rule with an iron fist. Since Qin is pronounced “Chin,” this is believed to be the source of the name of the consolidated country n China. Qin was the first emperor of consolidated China. But Qin’s rule lasted only 13 years before chaotic wars broke out again. Qin was a brutal ruler who conscripted millions to build great walls and to prepare for his afterlife with a tomb as big as some pyramids and countless buried terra cotta warriors. His tomb has never been opened.

But what happened to Qu Yuan? He could have joined another state and enjoyed privilege and wealth, for he was well-respected, but he elected to remain in poverty among the people he loved. Despondent over his exile, before Chu was conquered he wrote some of China’s most revered poetry, giving voice to his affinity to the people instead of the power of royalty. His poems are preserved, comprising the eleven odes, nine elegies, “Li Sao,” “Riddles,” “Requiem,” “The Soothsayer” and “The Fisherman.”

Qu Yuan learned that King Huai had not strengthened his forces, had betrayed the other states, had allied with Qin against Qu Yuan’s advice, and that Qin did indeed betray and conquer Chu. In his despair over his failure to convince his king and the loss of his country Qu Yuan used a rope to tie himself to a large rock, threw himself into the Milou River and drowned.

When the people who loved Qu Yuan learned what he had done, they took to their dragon boats to find his body for a respectful burial. These boats had dragon heads on the front to help ward off evil spirits that lived in the river. They pounded drums and beat the water with their paddles to scare the fish so they would not eat Qu Yuan’s body. They poured realgar wine in the water to make the fish drunk and they threw glutinous rice balls called zongzi to divert the hungry fish.

That was the year 278 BC. Now every year on that same day, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, called double-fives day, Chinese people celebrate the memory of a great poet and statesman and patriot named Qu Yuan by re-enacting the search for his body in the Dragon Boat Festival. They hold races in which drumbeats sound out the cadence for furious rowing by the boat’s team. They drink realgar wine, eat zongzi and other foods, and generally have a good time.

The dragon boat races are great fun and are held all over the world. But in China where they originated, the celebration has a deeper meaning, the remembrance of a great patriot any civilization would have been proud to call their own.