If you're Chinese, you'd be on your way home early for dinner this very evening. And the dish you're gonna be gobbling down will most probably be rice dumplings, or some call it the Bachang (in Hokkien dialect, which literally means Meat Dumpling).
But if you're just curious, you'd wanna know what's the story behind The Rice Dumpling Festival, or more commonly known as the Dragon Boat Festival. Here's a summarised version of the legend:
Way back when, in Chu Kingdom of ancient China, there was an important minister named Qu Yuan (pronounced simply as Chue Yuan) who was a loyal servant of the emperor.
The emperor however, is one who does not listen well to advice provided by Qu Yuan. This proved to be fatal for the emperor who got himself captured and killed in enemy territories.
Poor Qu Yuan, who was sad and angry with the corrupted kingdom, tied himself to a big rock and threw himself into the River of Puo Luo.
What happened next was the people made rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves and fed them to the river. It was believed that this would stop the fish from eating Qu Yuan's body who was regarded as sacred. Then, some of the kingdom folks would row downstream on a boat, beating drums, screaming and shouting, to frighten off the fishes.
And so this was how the festival of glutinous rice dumplings with meat and scrumptious fillings, and the dragon boat, came to be.
It's strange, but true.
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