Like in the rest of the world, holidays in China are a time for serious cooking and delighted eating. Grocery markets are well stocked with all kinds of fishes and meat and shopping and cooking become major activities.But in addition to the quantitative and qualitative differences apparent in holiday meals, some special traditional foods and their symbolic significance are indispensable on these occasions.
        The Dragon Boat Festival, or the Duanwu Festival, falls on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month (around early June). The festival is celebrated in memory of Qu Yuan, one of China’s greatest poets and loyal minister who drowned himself in the Miluo River while in exile from a corrupt court of the Warring States Period. People respected Qu Yuan for his efforts to make China strong and prosperous and for his dedication to such ideals. However, he became frustrated with the status quo and ultimately committed suicide. On the day of Duanwu, the day of Qu Yuan’s death, peoplerushed all over, rowing dragon boats on the river in an attempt to find his remains, which were thought to have drifted downstream never to be recovered. As part of the festival, people throw rice-filled bamboo tubes into the river as an offering.
      During the Duanwu Festival, it is also a common practice to eat zongzi. Zongzi, a kind of glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, were originally prepared as sacrificial offerings for Qu Yuan’s departed soul and dropped into the river where he drowned himself. Today, however, dragon boat races are held during the festival and the zongzi are consumed by the living.
      Commemoration of Qu Yuan during the Duanwu Festival shows his popularity as a poet and man who made great contributions to China. In 1957, Qu Yuan was selected by the World Peace Council as one of the four cultural figures to be memorized by the world.