With the coming of Duanwu Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, people are busy preparing for the celebration.

The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar in the Warring States Period more than 2,200 years ago.

There are several different opinions on its origin. The most accepted is in memory of Qu Yuan, a famous poet and virtuous official of the Chu Kingdom (Hunan Province) at that time.

As the king refused his suggestion and when the capital of his nation was occupied by invaders, Qu wrote his final poem beside Miluo River in today's Hunan and drowned himself on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar in 278 BC.

People were sad over the patriotic poet's death. They tossed rice and meat into the river to feed the fish, which would protect Qu's body.

To prevent the food from being eaten by dragons, they wrapped the meat in reed leaves and bamboo. That was the original glutinous rice dumpling. In later, wrapping dumplings during the Duanwu Festival became a tradition.

Ancient people believed rivers and the sea were both controlled by dragons. They were also worried Qu's spirit would be harmed by dragons. So they produced some boats with a shape similar to dragons and held races on the river to the thunderous beat of drums to warn dragons not to damage Qu's spirit. The race then became a custom.

There are many other customs attached to the Dragon Boat Festival.

Drinking rice wine on this day is believed to make people healthy and keep insects and snakes away.

People also grind traditional Chinese medicine into powder and put it in special bags called "xiang dai" or (sachet). The scent of the medicine is disliked by insects.

It's also a very welcome present during the festival. Different sachet designs can express various feelings such as love or friendship.

(Shanghai Daily May 29, 2006)