According to the same Beijing government website, Chu Yuan's sufferings had gained the sympathy of the people....In memory of him, every year on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar -- the day he drowned himself -- dragon boat races, which are said to represent the search for his body in the river, are held, and the Chinese people eat Zong Zi, little packets of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, which was [legendarily] originally thrown into the river to keep the fishes from eating the body of Qu Yuan.
Health and the Legend of Chu Yuan's Body
Meanwhile, In China, it has been claimed that upon hearing the news of Qu Yuan's suicide, some doctors poured regular wine into the Miluo River to anesthetize the fishes, hence preventing them from eating Qu Yuan's body. This has, henceforth, enabled Chinese and other regional governments (e.g. in Taiwan and Vietnam) to focus on health issues at this very same time each year.
For example, I believe that it has not been coincidental that during these past weeks in May 2011 (i.e. leading up to the Dragon Boat Races and Festival) that the Taiwan government has cracked down hard on chemical, food, and beverage manufacturers who have endangered the health of Taiwanese consumers due to usage of reportedly carcinogen materials in their production or manufacturing processes for produce, drinks, and perfume products.
Such a government action is considered a belated but important way of honoring the Civil Servant Yuan who had fought hard to help people, rather than waste resources waging wars on his own or neighboring peoples.
Washington D.C. and America Are Missing the Boat
Dragon boat racing was not introduced to the world at large until the 1970s when the Hong Kong Tourist Board staged an international Dragon Boat Festival to promote Hong Kong culture. Last year, for the first time, I personally watched dragon boat races in Germany on the Rhine River near Mainz and Wiesbaden.
The Chinese Dragon Boat Race tradition has thus become popular outside of the Chinese-speaking world through recent processes of globalization Chinese government promotions. Recently, I also noted that Washington, D.C. also has its own big Dragon Boat race.
It would seem that the (Washington) D.C. Dragon Boat Club is in the spirit of things -- things Chinese, that is. However, (pardon the pun) American Congressmen and Civil Servants in D.C. are missing the boat. They are leaving out the legend of Chu Yuan and the need for a nation to honor and recall civil servants who do the right thing, i.e., follow their conscience and speak truth to power by presenting the facts.
John F. Kennedy had written about men like this in his non-fiction work, "Profiles in Courage," some 65 years ago. Why has Congress and America forgotten to honor such men and women in the interim?
NOTE: Written in 1955 by then junior senator from the state of Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage served as a clarion call to every American. The inspiring true accounts of eight unsung heroic acts by American patriots at different junctures in our nation's history, Kennedy's book became required reading; an instant classic, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Now, a half-century later, it remains a moving, powerful, and relevant testament to the indomitable national spirit -- an unparalleled celebration of that most noble of human virtues.
Moreover, instead of making the (Chinese) connection to honoring civil servants and government workers who offer Americans and the world real "profiles in courage," through some annual event or national holiday, our two or three branches of government in Washington, D.C.have been going overboard arresting and imprisoning American heroes, whistleblowers like Bradley Manning and Bradly Birkenfeld, this past decade.
In other words, American support of good governance -- even in lip service -- is often a big washout.
In conclusion, in contrast to Taiwan, where the government and good governance are known to this very day as Yuan (in honor of Chu Yuan), America tends to forget to support whistleblowers and too often seems to desire to put them behind bars.
Postlude -- Calling for a Holiday!
I think it is time to revert to the official governmental and national respect of the Confucianist Chinese for good governance, the commonweal, and for honest and noble civil servants. Otherwise, we Americans are not teaching our children the right things about government and necessary moral integrity.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
