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It’s that time of year again. The lunar calendar’s fifth day of the fifth month. Yup! It’s Dragon Boat Festival time—eating zongzi, drinking pesticide, and, best of all, having a four-day weekend. Most people from the East and West know the basics of the story—a dude died, people made rice cakes, and then had a long weekend. But few know the true story. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing…Qu Yuan.
又到了一年中的那個時候了。農曆第五個月的第五天。沒錯！是端午節的日子－－吃粽子、喝殺蟲劑，以及，最棒的是，擁有四天連假。大多數來自東方和西方的人都知道故事的基底－－一位老兄死了、人們做米糕，然後就有個長假。但很少人知道真正的故事。各位女士先生，為您介紹…屈原。

Are you listening?
你有在聽嗎？

Qu Yuan was born in approximately 384 BC, in the area of China, which is now known Hubei. Aside from the fact he was born into an aristocratic family, not much is known about Qu Yuan’s childhood. As an adult, he demonstrated an excellent memory and excelled in the art of diplomacy. He was so well regarded for his highly developed skills that he was appointed left minister to King Huai during the incredibly complex and convoluted Warring States period. As left minister, it was Qu’s duty to advise the king on domestic affairs and royal orders, as well as entertaining guests and ministers from other states. Qu Yuan loved his kingdom and was devastated to discover that the government was becoming increasingly corrupted.
屈原約於西元前 384 年出生，在中國的一個地區，也就是現在所知的湖北。除了他生長在貴族世家的事實，屈原的童年鮮為人知。成人後，他展現絕佳的記憶力並在外交手段上高人一籌。他極度純熟的技巧非常受到器重，因而被指派為楚懷王的左丞相，此時正處於極為錯綜複雜的戰國時期。身為左丞相，屈原有責任在國事和皇室命令上忠告君王，同時也必須招待來自其他諸侯國的門客與丞相。屈原很愛他的國家，並在發現朝廷正日漸變得腐敗後感到心力交瘁。

After the death of King Huai, the new king, Qingxiang, appointed his brother to the role of prime minister. The prime minister hated Qu Yuan and exiled him to the land south of the Yangtze River. It was during his exile that Qu Yuan began writing poetry. In total, Qu wrote about 25 noteworthy poems which mostly focused on his frustrations and despair with the increasing decline of his beloved kingdom. His sad prose poetry was so well regarded that it defined an entirely new style of Chinese poetry entitled “Chuci." Arguably his poem most representative of the style is Sorrow After Departure, which goes a little something like this…
楚懷王駕崩後，新的君主，楚頃襄王，指派他的弟弟為宰相。宰相厭惡屈原並放逐他到江南。正是在被流放期間，屈原才開始寫詩。加總起來，屈氏寫了約二十五首重要的詩詞，多數著重在他對深愛的國家逐漸衰敗感到的挫折與絕望。他悲傷的散體詩十分受到重視，更定義了一個叫做「楚辭」的全新中文詩體。可以說他在此體例中最具代表性的詩歌是「離騷」，內容大概是這樣的…

During his many years of exile, Qu grew increasingly depressed at the now burgeoning downfall of his homeland, so much so that he could no longer stand the emotional despair and decided to end it all. He completed his magnum opus, titled Lament for Ying, then picked up a rock, waded into the Miluo River, and committed suicide. From here is where the legend of the Dragon Boat Festival begins. When people saw that Qu Yuan was committing suicide, they immediately took their boats to the river and raced to find his body. People also threw rice into the river as to prevent fish from trying to eat him. To fend off a water dragon who apparently lived in the river, an old doctor threw in a bottle of wine to get it drunk.
在他多年的流亡中，屈氏對於他的家鄉正急速衰落，愈感消沉，嚴重至他再也無法忍受情感上的絕望並決定結束這一切。他完成他的鉅作，題為「哀郢」，然後抱起一塊岩石，涉水投汨羅江自盡。從這裡開始就是端午節傳說的起源。當人們看到屈原自盡，他們立即帶著他們的船隻到江邊爭相找尋他的遺體。人們也丟米飯進江水裡以防止魚群試圖咬食他。為了抵禦一隻顯然住在江裡的蛟龍，一位老醫生扔入一罈雄黃酒好讓牠醉。

According to the official Beijing government website, a dragon-like fish floated to the surface with a piece of Yuan’s clothing in its whiskers. Yes, the Beijing government website talks about dragons. That’s awesome!
根據北京政府官方網站，一條長相似龍的魚浮至水面，牠的鬍鬚連帶著一件屈原的衣服。是的，北京政府的網站談論龍。酷斃啦！

What the website doesn’t mention, though, is that after a few days, Qu came back as a ghost. Because apparently dragons are fine, but ghosts are impossible. Anyway. Some time later, Qu’s ghost appeared before his friends. He told them that he died from drowning, not by dragon, and asked them to prepare glutinous rice wrapped in silk packages as an offering to the water dragon. These rice packages, now traditionally wrapped in bamboo leaves, are what we call zongzi. To commemorate the extreme patriotism and revolutionary poetry styles of Qu Yuan, the day of his death became Dragon Boat Festival. As this is an ancient story, details about how the story went down and even details regarding who the festival is celebrating changes, but Qu Yuan is popularly considered the true precursor.
但網站沒有提及的是，幾天後，屈氏以鬼魂的模樣回來了。因為顯然地，龍沒有問題，但鬼魂是不可能存在的。管它的。一些時日後，屈氏的鬼魂出現在他朋友們面前。他告訴他們他是死於溺斃，不是因為龍，並請他們準備裹在絲袋中的糯米，作為蛟龍的供品。這些米包，現在傳統上以竹葉包裹的，就是我們所謂的粽子。為了紀念屈原極度的愛國主義及革新的詩體，他逝世的日子成為端午節。因為這是一個古老的故事，故事發展的細節，甚至是關於節日頌揚對象的細節皆眾說紛紜，但屈原普遍被認為是真正的先驅。

The festival does not only exist in China. In fact, many countries throughout Asia celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam all join in on the festivities. In China, its traditions are directly linked to the legend of Qu Yuan—eating the dragon’s offering, zongzi, drinking the spirit that killed the dragon, realgar wine, which actually contains trace amounts of arsenic, it was originally used as pesticide. Seriously, do yourself a favor and don’t drink it. And finally, in honor of those who searched for Qu Yuan’s body, dragon boat racing became a competition. The sport of dragon boat racing has become so popular that it is practiced around the world. In China, the annual winners of the race are awarded with the prestigious Qu Yuan Cup.
這個節日不僅存在於中國。實際上，亞洲各地許多國家都慶祝端午節。香港、韓國、新加坡、越南都加入慶典活動。在中國，端午節慶的傳統直接與屈原的傳說連結－－吃龍的供品，粽子、喝殺死龍的烈酒，雄黃酒，而它其實含有微量的砒霜，原本是用來當作殺蟲劑的。講真的，為了你好，別喝它吧。最後，為向那些找尋屈原遺體的人們致敬，划龍舟成為了競賽。划龍舟體育競賽變得非常受歡迎，全世界都在進行。在中國，每年的比賽優勝者能贏得聲望極高的屈原盃。

This is honestly the thing I love most about Chinese history. There are so many weird stories about strange yet amazing people. A man from 300 BC wrote genre-defining poetry, kills himself, gets a dragon killed, and comes back as a ghost, and is nationally recognized with an agreed-upon festival. Also, luckily for me, since 2008, the Dragon Boat Festival has become an official public holiday, which means I can spend my weekend getting drunk in the bathtub.
這實在是我最愛中國歷史的地方。有好多關於怪異但令人欽佩的人物的奇聞軼事。一位西元前三百年的男人寫了定下新體材的詩歌、自我了斷、讓一條龍被殺死，然後以鬼魂之姿重返，受到一個國定假日的肯定。還有，對我來說很幸運地，自 2008 年，端午節已成為國定假日，這代表我可以用我整個週末在浴缸裡喝茫。

So, there you have it. Thank you so much for watching another one of my videos. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe. If this is the first video of mine you’ve seen, welcome! And be sure to click on the link to check out my other history videos. The previous video was on Hong Xiuquan, Jesus’s Chinese brother, who led the bloodiest event in modern history! Thanks again for watching. I’m WooKong and goodbye.
好啦，就是這樣。非常感謝再次觀看我又一支影片。別忘了按喜歡、留言，並訂閱。如果這是你第一次看我的影片，歡迎你！記得要點擊連結查看我過去其它影片。前一支影片是關於洪秀全，耶穌的中國籍兄弟，他領導了近代史上最血淋淋的一次事件！再次感謝收看。我是 WooKong，下回再見。

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