Qu Yuan (about 340-278 BC) was a poet and politician of Chu State during the Warring States Period in China. He advocated "American politics", promoting and appointing talents internally, perfecting statutes and uniting external forces to resist Qin.
In the thirty-seventh year of Zhou Nanwang (the first 278 years), Du Ying was captured by Tian Lei, and King Xiang of Chu had to flee with the ruling aristocrat "Chen Cheng of Yu Bao (now Huaiyang County, Henan Province)". In a state of extreme depression and complete despair, Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. This year was probably the twenty-first year of King Xiang of Chu Qing (278 BC), and Qu Yuan was about sixty-two.
Extended data:
According to local legend, Qu Yuan didn't sink when he threw himself into the river until his clothes were covered with sand. So today is also called Shensha Port. Since Qu Yuan was exiled to Dongting Lake by King Xiang of Chu, he has been worried about the fate of his motherland every day, and he is saddened to think of the tragic situation of his compatriots in the war. In 278 BC, Qin generals attacked Chu (now Jiangling, Hubei Province) but failed, and the king of Chu fled Chen.
After Qu Yuan was in shock, he crossed the north bank of Hanshui River with great sadness, bid farewell to his hometown Zigui and the capital Yongjia forever, and then went south to Changsha. But my heart is always attached to my motherland, so I turned back to Dongting. The cruel reality finally made him feel desperate, and he had no way out. All his life's ideals and ambitions were in vain. After Miluo wrote the last chapter of Lisao, Huai Sha drowned himself here.
People along the Miluo River rowed boats to Qu Yuan to save the patriotic poet. People are worried that fish and shrimp in the river will bite Qu Yuan. While rowing for rescue, they threw zongzi from the boat into the river to feed fish and shrimp, thus forming the custom of dragon boat race and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival.
However, a generation of patriotic poets still failed to save their lives. Qu Yuan was salvaged by fishermen only a few days after he threw himself into the river, and part of his head was eaten by fish and shrimp. His daughter's son-in-law gave him half a golden head to be buried with. The son-in-law was worried that someone would dig a grave and steal the golden head, so he built a suspicious grave with a Luo skirt. With the help of God, he built 12 suspicious graves overnight.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Qu Yuan