The Death of Qū Yuán 屈原

On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the day of the dragon boat festival (Duānwǔ jié 端午节), people eat zòngzi 粽子 (although people also eat them at other times, since they are delicious).

The association of zòngzi with this occasion is said to be in memory of the poet QŪ Yuán 屈原, an official of the state of Chǔ 楚 during the Warring States Period (period 04e, 200s and 300s BC). The famous warring states included Yān 燕, Qí 齐, Zhào 赵, Wèi 魏, Hán 韩, Chǔ 楚, And Qín 秦, as well as the diminutive Lesser Wèi 卫, Dōngzhōu 东周, Sòng 宋, and Lǔ 鲁 (where Confucius lived). Among all these, the state of Qín was by far the most powerful and sought to dominate or absorb the others. (Eventually it succeeded. That’s where the Qín dynasty came from.) The state of Chǔ was the southernmost of the major stages, and quite large, but weaker than its size would suggest.

Qū Yuán was a scion of an aristocratic family and, because of his independent thinking, he was a trusted counselor at the court of King Huái 怀 of Chǔ. Also because of his independent thinking, Qū Yuán was heartily hated disliked by most of the rest of the court, and especially by an envious competitor for the king’s attention, the unscrupulous Zǐ Lán 子兰.

(Evidence is ambiguous, but some modern scholars suspect from an extremely close reading of his poetry that Qū Yuán and King Huái were lovers. The position of nòngchén 弄臣 “amusement official” was not unusual in Chinese courts. English translators often minimize the sexual overtones of that term with the translations like “favorite courtier” or “jester,” but probably “royal toyboy” would be closer to the relationship in many cases. Qū Yuán may have been an “amusement official,” or he and the king may just have been extremely fond of each other. Some sources suggest he may also have been prime minister.)

Qū Yuán was an advocate of close alliances with the other states in the hope of frustrating Qín’s expansionist ambitions. In the late 280s BC the state of Qín 秦 broke its alliance with Chǔ, and many battles ensued. Eventually Qín suggested that the Chǔ monarch go to Qín for peace talks. Qū Yuán counseled against doing so, for he did not trust Qín. But King Huái’s son Qǐng Xiāng 楚顷襄, and well as Zǐ Lán and many other courtiers, argued in favor of the trip, and in the end King Huái went.

As Qū Yuán had predicted, King Huái was arrested, held in exile in Qín for three years, and finally executed. Meanwhile his son Qǐng Xiāng became monarch in Chǔ, and selected Qū Yuán’s old enemy Zǐ Lán as his prime minister, who immediately persuaded him to have Qū Yuán banished. Qū Yuán moved to his old home in what is today northern Húběi 湖北 and spent his time collecting folklore and writing poetry.

In 278 BC Qín forces, under the command of the famous general BÁI Qǐ 白起, occupied Yǐng 郢, the Chǔ capital (in modern Jiānglíng county 江陵县 in Húběi).

Qū Yuán was in despair partly at the injustice of his exile, partly at the death of King Huái, and partly at the loss of his homeland to the Qín conquerors because his advice had not been followed. He commemorated his sorrow in a long poem still widely respected, called “Leaving the Tumult” or “The Sorrow of Leaving” (Lǐsāo 离骚) (usually translated “Encountering Sorrow”) and in many other melancholy poems, often including the word lament (āi 哀) in the title, such as “Lament for [the Fall of] Yǐng” (Āi Yǐng 哀郢).

Eventually on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, overcome by his depression, Qū Yuán committed suicide by jumping into the nearby Mìluó river 汨罗江.

People were unable to find his body, and made sacrifices to his ghost by throwing rice into the river. Later, fearing that the rice would be too readily eaten by fish, they tied the rice into wrappings of bamboo leaves. (Other accounts say that the wrapped rice was thrown in to feed the fish and thus prevent them from eating Qū Yuán’s body.)

Although people do not throw rice into rivers any more, the custom of preparing and eating rice wrapped in bamboo leaves (zòngzi 粽子) is still associated with the fifth day of the fifth month.