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Another story, set in the Spring and Autumn period, relates how Wu Zixu, a great military hero and courtier, advised the king of Wu to destroy the defeated state of Yue to prevent a future uprising. Blinded by the veiled obedience of the fallen state, the king did not heed this advice and, instead, ordered Wu Zixu to commit suicide for his dishonourable proposal. On the fifth day of the fifth month, 484 B.C., his body was thrown into the river by order of the king. Ten years later, the state of Yue defeated the state of Wu.
The origin of dragon boats and the Dragon Boat Festival is tied to the rituals and customs associated with an ancient agricultural society, deeply entrenched in ceremonies with dragon-shaped boats well before Qu Yuan’s death. The passage of time was marked by the cycles of ploughing the fields, sowing seeds, nurturing the crops, and harvesting. The Dragon Boat Festival, falling on the fifth day of the fifth month, is more accurately represented by its Chinese name, Duan Wu Jie, meaning Double Fifth Festival. On this day, the spring season ends and the summer begins. Celebrations honouring this benefactor of rain were held at this time. A contented River Dragon would bring enough rain for prosperous crops. A displeased River Dragon would unleash its wrath by withholding rain and causing droughts, or by dispensing too much rain and prompting storms and floods. Capsized boats and drowning during races were considered misfortunes governed by the will of the River Dragon. Casualties were not rescued and those who drowned were considered as sacrifices to venerate the River Dragon. Archaeological excavations show that sacrificial ceremonies were once practised as an important element of many ancient festivals in China. Proof that dragon boating may be the world’s oldest, continuing, competitive activity, pre-dating the Olympic Games of ancient Greece by 1,000 years,4 lies in Hubei Province. There, a drawing of dragon boat races that were depicted on a spinning wheel, 4,000 to 5,000 years old, was excavated from ruins in Qujialing.5