A Tour to Hometown of Qu Yuan

Legend of Qu Yuan

Qu Yuan wrote an article "Guo Shang" became a new pretext of slander. The jealous minister Zheng Xiu said to King of Chu: " Qu Yuan incites the people, and he tells them that the reason why there are so many soldiers fell in the battle is because of your majesty, and he will revenge this time." Once again, The King of Chu was furious. While the alliance to against the hegemonic Qin state was broken, Qu Yuan was appointed to do a leisure work and he need take up his new position "Sanlu Daifu" immediately.

Hometown of Qu Yuan

Sanlu Daifu is a type of ethical officials does not have much power. However, Samlu has become the name of Qu Yuan's hometown. According to the materials, Qu Yuan was born in Leping Li, Zigui County, Hubei Province.

On the gate wall of Zigui County, there is hanging a brand "Hometown of Qu Yuan" which wrote by Mr. Guo Morou. Zigui as the hometown of Qu Yuan, naturally, it became the cradle of Dragon Boat Festival. Over two thousand years, people memorizing Qu Yuan on the Dragon Boat Festival became to a custom.

In 2009, Chinese Dragon Boat Festival successful declared as "the World Intangible Cultural Heritage". In Zigui, the Dragon Boat Festival last 20 days. On 5th of May in the Chinese lunar calendar is just a prelude. In memory of Qu Yuan, people wrap up rice dumplings, row dragon boats, hold poetry competition and a full set of rituals.

In Leping Li, there are many monuments and legends about Qu Yuan. Leping Li still preserved a large numbers of sites, such as Qu Yuan's house, temple and arch etc. "the Eight Sites of Qu Yuan" is the most famous one including: Dushu Cave, Zhaomian Well, Maize Field, Leigu Platform, Pearly Stalacitite, Hufu Bell, Xianggu Cliff and Hui Long Suo Shui (a giant dragon send by the deity to locked the river to prevent Qu Yuan went to capital of the State of Chu.)