Traditionally held on the fifth day of the fifth moon on the lunar calendar, late May to mid June on the solar calendar, the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the life and death of the ancient patriot-poet Qu Yuan who lived from 340 - 278 B.C. Qu Yuan was a minister who advocated reforms in his home state of Chu. After being discredited and disgraced by bitter political rivals, he was banished from the state of Chu after criticizing the government and the emperor. In exile, Qu Yuan wrote poetry expressing his concern for his country and people.

In 278, when Qu Yuan learned that his former state had been conquered by another of its neighbouring states, he wandered along the banks of the Mi Lo River and was never seen again. Some say that he picked a heavy stone up in his arms and threw himself into the river. Along the banks of the river, fishermen hurried out in their boats in a desperate attempt to rescue him, but they could find no sign of him.

Fearing that the fish in the river would devour his body, the people made rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves and dropped them into the river, thinking that the fish would leave Qu Yuan's body alone and eat the dumplings instead. The fishermen also tried to scare away the fish and hungry spirits by beating loudly on their drums and splashing the water with their paddles.

To commemorate the day when people rushed out to the river to rescue Qu Yuan, people living in South China made it an annual event to race boats. Since then, the Chinese tradition of dragon boat racing has come to memorialize the noble spirit of Qu Yuan, who is remembered for his self-sacrifice, his steadfast morality, the power of his writing, and his concern for his fallen countrymen.

These dragonboat events soon became known in other regions along the coastline, and further to the communities along the river banks of China. Through south-east Asia it reached Japan, where in 1655 the first dragonboat races were held in Nagasaki. In the early 80's the first group of Western dragonboat teams were invited to join the races that were held in China. This made it possible to spread the sport of dragonboat racing to Europe and America, where up till today many succesfull tournaments are taking place with one main event, the World Championships.