Dragon Boat Festival began here

端午·屈原故里 · duān wǔ

The 5th day of the 5th lunar month (June). Zigui, Qu Yuan's home town, holds the country's most heartfelt races, poetry gatherings and zongzi-wrapping — the festival at its source.

When the exiled poet Qu Yuan drowned himself in 278 BC in despair at Chu's fall, villagers paddled out to save him and threw rice in the river so the fish would spare his body. That is the dragon boat and the zongzi.

In Zigui the festival lasts three days: 头端午, 大端午, 末端午. Families hang mugwort (艾草) over the door, children wear silk-thread bracelets, and a dab of realgar wine goes on the forehead.

Wuhan's East Lake also hosts big races; the Zigui ones on the reservoir below the dam are smaller and more moving.