Lesson 3

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the death of a patriotic poet named 屈原 (Qū Yuán). Qu Yuan worked as an adviser to the king of the country of Chu 楚國 (Chu guó) during China's Warring States Period. Chu was one of seven countries that continuously fought each other. Qu Yuan was a very well-liked man. He was extremely loyal to Chu and helped the king with everything. Qu Yuan quickly became the king's preferred adviser. However, other ministers and officials were jealous of Qu Yuan. They constantly told the king lies about Qu Yuan. Sadly, the king believed them and banished Qu Yuan from Chu. During his exile, Qu Yuan resorted to his poetry as an outlet for his concern for the future of Chu. He became more and more depressed, since he was not able to help his country. Then, on the fifth day of the fifth month, Qu Yuan jumped to his death into a river to try to prove a point to the king.

Supporters of Qu Yuan rushed to the river when they heard about his suicide. They hurried into their boats and paddled to Qu Yuan's body. They beat drums to scare the fish away from his body. People also started throwing rice wrapped in leaves into the river, hoping the fish would eat the rice and not Qu Yuan.

The rice wrapped in leaves has evolved into 粽子(zòng zi), which are always made for the Dragon Boat Festival. The rice is oily or glutinous and wrapped in bamboo leaves or reed leaves. All types of filling can go in the rice, including red beans, mushrooms, peanuts, pork, and chicken. A common shape for 粽子 is a tetrahedral. The drumming and boats has turned into dragon boat racing. Dragon boats 龍舟 (lóng zhōu) are very colourful and have a dragon head. A typical dragon boat crew includes one drummer at the front and one sweep at the back who steers the boat. The paddlers face forward (not backward like in crew) and listen for the drumming to row in unison.

Colours 彩色 (cǎi sè)

色 means colour

You can use it after each of the following words to say "red colour" or "purple colour," but you drop it when you are describing the colour of a certain object.