Misplaced Pages

#179820

46-453: The Cao'e River is named after Cao E (130–143 AD), a Han dynasty girl who drowned herself in the river after her father had drowned and his body was lost. She came to be venerated as an exemplar of filial piety . In ancient times, the river was called the Shun River (舜江), after the legendary Emperor Shun , and its estuary was called Dong Xiao Jiang (东小江, East Small River). Its upper stretch

92-606: A basin area of 865 square kilometres (334 sq mi). The Xinchang River is 52.5 kilometres (32.6 mi) long and has a basin area of 535 square kilometres (207 sq mi). It originates in Tiantai County . The Changle River is 70.5 kilometres (43.8 mi) long and has a basin area of 864 square kilometres (334 sq mi). It originates in Dongyang and joins the Cao'e River in downtown Shengzhou. The Huangze River

138-676: A bid to boost traditional culture. The Dragon Boat Festival is unofficially observed by the Chinese communities of Southeast Asia, including Singapore and Malaysia . Equivalent and related official festivals include the Korean Dano , Japanese Tango no sekku , and Vietnamese Tết Đoan Ngọ . Three of the most widespread activities conducted during the Dragon Boat Festival are eating (and preparing) zongzi , drinking realgar wine , and racing dragon boats . Dragon boat racing has

184-414: A game of making an egg stand at noon (this "game" implies that if someone succeeds in making the egg stand at exactly 12:00 noon, that person will receive luck for the next year), and writing spells . All of these activities, together with the drinking of realgar wine or water, were regarded by the ancients (and some today) as effective in preventing disease or evil while promoting health and well-being. In

230-575: A pyramid shape. The leaves also give a special aroma and flavor to the sticky rice and fillings. Choices of fillings vary depending on regions. Northern regions in China prefer sweet or dessert-styled zongzi, with bean paste, jujube, and nuts as fillings. Southern regions in China prefer savory zongzi, with a variety of fillings including eggs and meat. Zongzi appeared before the Spring and Autumn period and were originally used to worship ancestors and gods. In

276-586: A rich history of ancient ceremonial and ritualistic traditions, which originated in southern central China more than 2500 years ago. The legend starts with the story of Qu Yuan, who was a minister in one of the Warring State governments, Chu. He was slandered by jealous government officials and banished by the king. Out of disappointment in the Chu monarch, he drowned himself in the Miluo River. The common people rushed to

322-584: Is 70.6 kilometres (43.9 mi) long and has a basin area of 577 square kilometres (223 sq mi). It originates from the Xiabo Peak on the border of Ninghai and Xinchang counties. The Xiaoshun River is 73 kilometres (45 mi) long and has a basin area of 544 square kilometres (210 sq mi). Its two main sources, South Creek and North Creek, are in Shengzhou and Shaoxing County , respectively. A 40 square kilometres (15 sq mi) area of

368-695: Is called the Chengtan River (澄潭江), and the river is also called Shanxi or Shan Creek (剡溪) near Shengzhou , and Shangyu River in Shangyu District . The Cao'e River begins from the Jiangongling Mountain (尖公岭, elevation 870 meters) of the Dapan Mountains (大盘山脉). Its source, Tengxi or Teng Creek (藤溪), is located in Wangcun Village, Shanghu Town, Pan'an County . The upper stretch is called

414-528: Is named after Cao E and is part of Yuyao ( Ningbo ) in the Zhejiang province, China . Small Cao E town has an area of 33.4 square kilometers and a population of 40,400 (2017). There is a Cao'e-post-office, Cao'e-health-center, Cao'e-school and Cao'e-supermarket in the town. The town is located about 50 km away from the port of Ningbo and is known for its industry. Small Cao E town has a reputation for honey and mustard . Small Cao E town has been chosen as one of

460-492: Is placed in the northern part of the Cao'e-temple. The original Cao'e Stele ( 曹娥碑 ) was lost but in 1093, Cai Bian (蔡卞) crafted another stele for Cao E, this stele is over 2 meters high and 1 meter wide. The Cao'e Stele is set up in the Cao'e Temple. The stele has been titled "The stele of Cao E, the filial piety daughter". This stele has become a historical monument. Xiaocao'ezhen , English : "Small Cao E town" ( Chinese : 小曹娥镇 ; pinyin : xiǎo Cáo É zhèn ),

506-464: Is related to the number 5. For example, the Guangdong and Hong Kong regions have the tradition of having congee made from 5 different beans. Realgar wine or Xionghuang wine is a Chinese alcoholic drink that is made from Chinese liquor dosed with powdered realgar , a yellow-orange arsenic sulfide mineral. It was traditionally used as a pesticide, and as a common antidote against disease and venom. On

SECTION 10

#1732854989180

552-421: Is said to have been the origin of dragon boat races . When his body could not be found, they dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan's body. This is said to be the origin of zongzi . During the twentieth century, Qu Yuan became considered a patriotic poet and a symbol of the people. He was promoted as a folk hero and a symbol of Chinese nationalism in

598-630: The Xiaoshun River in Shangpu (上浦). It is then crossed by several canals including the Zhedong (East Zhejiang) Canal , before emptying into the Hangzhou Bay . It has a total length of 182.4 kilometres (113.3 mi), and a basin area of 5,930.9 square kilometres (2,289.9 sq mi). The Chengtan River, the main source of Cao'e, is often considered a tributary. It is 91 kilometres (57 mi) long and has

644-422: The dragon king , while dragon boat racing naturally reflects a reverence for the dragon and the active yang energy associated with it. This was merged with the tradition of visiting friends and family on boats. Another suggestion is that the festival celebrates a widespread feature of east Asian agrarian societies: the harvest of winter wheat. Offerings were regularly made to deities and spirits at such times: in

690-474: The stone carving . The temple stands in the Shangyu District , Shaoxing , Zhejiang and its façade faces east and overlooks the Cao'e-river, the other side has a view on the Phoenix mountain. The land on which the temple stands has an area of 6000 square meters, the temple has an area of 3840 square meters. Since 1989, the Cao'e-temple has been included in the list of protected national and cultural relics. Inside

736-460: The 1000 top towns in China. Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( traditional Chinese : 端午節 ; simplified Chinese : 端午节 ; pinyin : Duānwǔ jié ) is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar , which corresponds to late May or early June in the Gregorian calendar . The holiday commemorates Qu Yuan who

782-465: The American sociologist Wolfram Eberhard wrote that it was more widely celebrated in southern China than in the north. Another theory is that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from dragon worship . This theory was advanced by Wen Yiduo . Support is drawn from two key traditions of the festival: the tradition of dragon boat racing and zongzi . The food may have originally represented an offering to

828-620: The Cao'e River basin in Shangyu is a provincial scenic area of Zhejiang. It was a popular destination for travelling poets during the Tang dynasty . A major attraction is the Cao'e Temple , built in the Song dynasty (960–1279) to commemorate the filial daughter. It has many historical carvings and boards inscribed with calligraphy from famous people. It has been called the "No. 1 temple of Jiangnan ". Other sights include

874-773: The Chengtan River, which flows northeast through Jingling Town, Chengtan Town, and southern Shengzhou , for 91 kilometres. The Chengtan River is joined by the Xinchang River in Shengzhou. After the confluence the river is called Cao'e, and is then joined by the Changle River on the left, and the Huangze River on the right. After it enters Shangyu District, the Cao'e River is joined by the Xiaguan Creek (下管溪) in Zhangzhen, and then

920-567: The Dragon Boat Festival a day for getting rid of disease and bad luck. The story best known in modern China holds that the festival commemorates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan ( c.  340 –278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu during the Warring States period of the Zhou dynasty . A cadet member of the Chu royal house , Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with

966-606: The Dragon Boat Festival, people may put realgar wine on parts of children's faces to repel the five poisonous creatures. In some regions of China, people, especially children, wear silk ribbons or threads of 5 colors (blue, red, yellow, white, and black, representing the five elements ) on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. People believe that this will help keep evil away. Other common activities include hanging up icons of Zhong Kui (a mythic guardian figure), hanging mugwort and calamus , taking long walks, and wearing perfumed medicine bags. Other traditional activities include

SECTION 20

#1732854989180

1012-428: The Dragon Boat Festival, people try to avoid this bad luck. For example, people may put pictures of the five venomous creatures (snake, centipede, scorpion, lizard, toad, and sometimes spider ) on the wall and stick needles in them. People may also make paper cutouts of the five creatures and wrap them around the wrists of their children. Big ceremonies and performances developed from these practices in many areas, making

1058-551: The Dragon Boat Festival.   ... Now about this Feast. It is also called the Dragon Boat Feast. The fifth of the fifth moon at noon was the most poisonous hour for the poisonous insects, and reptiles such as frogs, lizards, snakes, hide in the mud, for that hour they are paralyzed. Some medical men search for them at that hour and place them in jars, and when they are dried, sometimes use them as medicine. Her Majesty told me this, so that day I went all over everywhere and dug into

1104-579: The Festival of Five Poisonous/Venomous Insects ( traditional Chinese : 毒蟲節 ; simplified Chinese : 毒虫节 ; pinyin : Dúchóng jié ; Wade–Giles : Tu -chʻung -chieh ). Yu Der Ling writes in chapter 11 of her 1911 memoir Two Years in the Forbidden City : The first day of the fifth moon was a busy day for us all, as from the first to the fifth of the fifth moon was the festival of five poisonous insects, which I will explain later—also called

1150-555: The Jin dynasty, zongzi dumplings were officially designated as the Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, the Chinese medicine yizhiren ( Alpinia oxyphylla ) was added to the ingredients for making zongzi. This cooked zongzi is called yizhi zong . 'Wu' (午) in the name 'Duanwu' has a pronunciation similar to that of the number 5 in multiple Chinese dialects, and thus many regions have traditions of eating food that

1196-614: The People's Republic of China after the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War . The historian and writer Guo Moruo was influential in shaping this view of Qu. Another origin story says that the festival commemorates Wu Zixu (died 484 BC), a statesman of the Kingdom of Wu . King Goujian of the state of Yue sends Xi Shi , a beautiful woman, to the state of Wu to distract its King Fuchai from state affairs. Wu Zixu sees through

1242-406: The ancient Yue, dragon kings; in the ancient Chu, Qu Yuan; in the ancient Wu, Wu Zixu (as a river god); in ancient Korea , mountain gods (see Dano ). As interactions between different regions increased, these similar festivals eventually merged into one holiday. In the early 20th century the Dragon Boat Festival was observed from the first to the fifth days of the fifth month, and was also known as

1288-688: The characters often having the same pronunciation. Hence Duanwu , the festival on "the fifth day of the fifth month". In Cantonese , it is romanized as Tuen Ng Jit in Hong Kong and Tung Ng Jit in Macau , hence the name "Tuen Ng Festival" used in Hong Kong , and Tun Ng ( Festividade do Barco-Dragão in Portuguese ) in Macau. The fifth lunar month is considered an unlucky and poisonous month, and

1334-509: The day of the festival according to the Chinese calendar. The Chinese name of the festival is pronounced differently in different Chinese languages . Duanwu ( 端午 ) literally means 'starting five'—i.e., the first "fifth day" of the month according to the Chinese zodiac . However, despite the literal meaning referring to the Earthly Branches , this character has also become associated with wǔ ( 五 ; wu ; 'five'), due to

1380-458: The early years of the Republic of China , Duanwu was celebrated as the "Poets' Day" due to Qu Yuan's status as China's first known poet. In Taiwanese tradition, balancing an egg on Duanwu is said to bring good fortune for the rest of the year. The sun is considered to be at its strongest around the time of the summer solstice, as the daylight in the northern hemisphere is the longest. The sun, like

1426-460: The festival first appeared during the early Han dynasty. The stories of both Qu Yuan and Wu Zixu were recorded in Sima Qian 's Shiji , completed 187 and 393 years after the respective events, because historians wanted to praise both characters. According to historians, the holiday originated as a celebration of agriculture, fertility, and rice growing in southern China . As recently as 1952

Cao'e River - Misplaced Pages Continue

1472-527: The fifth day of the fifth month especially so. To get rid of the misfortune, people would put calamus , Artemisia , and garlic above the doors on the fifth day of the fifth month. These were believed to help ward off evil by their strong smell and their shape (for instance, calamus leaves are shaped like swords). Venomous animals were said to appear starting from the fifth day of the fifth month, such as snakes, centipedes, and scorpions; people also supposedly get sick easily after this day. Therefore, during

1518-443: The ground, but found nothing. In 2008 the Dragon Boat Festival was made a national public holiday in China . The festival was long marked as a cultural festival in China and is a public holiday in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan . The People's Republic of China's government established in 1949 did not initially recognize the Dragon Boat Festival as a public holiday but reintroduced it in 2008 alongside two other festivals in

1564-591: The holiday's inclusion in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity , becoming the first Chinese holiday to be selected. The English language name for the holiday is "Dragon Boat Festival", used as the official English translation of the holiday by the People's Republic of China . It is also referred to in some English sources as Double Fifth Festival which alludes to

1610-521: The hometown of Zhu Yingtai and the hermitage of the renowned Eastern Jin Prime Minister Xie An . Cao E Cao E ( 曹娥 ; Cáo É ) (130–143) was a young girl from Shangyu District , Shaoxing , Zhejiang Province in China . She was the daughter of the shaman Cao Xu. The girl died in the year 143 while trying to save her father from drowning. In the year 151 a temple was built for her and

1656-486: The increasingly powerful state of Qin , Qu was banished for opposing the alliance and even accused of treason. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry . Eventually, Qin captured Ying , the Chu capital. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River . It is said that the local people, who admired him, raced out in their boats to save him, or at least retrieve his body. This

1702-439: The memory of the young girl Cao E (130–144 AD) instead. Cao E's father Cao Xu ( 曹盱 ) was a shaman who presided over local ceremonies at Shangyu . In 143, while presiding over a ceremony commemorating Wu Zixu during the Dragon Boat Festival, Cao Xu accidentally fell into the Shun River . Cao E, in an act of filial piety , searched the river for 3 days trying to find him. After five days, she and her father were both found dead in

1748-453: The plot and warned Fuchai, who became angry and forced the latter to commit suicide. His body was thrown into the river on the fifth day of the fifth month. After his death, in places such as Suzhou , Wu Zixu is remembered during the Dragon Boat Festival. Although Wu Zixu is commemorated in southeast Jiangsu and Qu Yuan elsewhere in China, much of Northeastern Zhejiang , including the cities of Shaoxing , Ningbo and Zhoushan , celebrates

1794-424: The region it flows through. The name the river still bears today is from the girl Cao E (130-143), who drowned in that river along with her father. The Cao'e Temple was first built in 151, after which the temple was rebuilt many times. The last time the temple was rebuilt was after a major fire in 1929, the reconstruction then lasted until 1936. The construction was made with a lot of wood carving in addition to

1840-749: The river from drowning. Eight years later, in 151, a temple was built in Shangyu dedicated to the memory of Cao E and her sacrifice. The Shun River was renamed Cao'e River in her honor. Cao E is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu ("Table of Peerless Heroes") by Jin Guliang. Some modern research suggests that the stories of Qu Yuan or Wu Zixu were superimposed onto a pre-existing holiday tradition. The promotion of these stories might have been encouraged by Confucian scholars, seeking to legitimize and strengthen their influence in China. The relationship between zongzi, Qu Yuan and

1886-563: The river in which she and her father drowned, was named after her. Cao Xu (曹盱) was the father of Cao E. He was a shaman who led local ceremonies at Shangyu . At the ceremony of the Dragon Boat Festival in the year 143, Cao Xu fell into the Shun river. A large-scale search was launched that lasted 17 days, but yielded nothing. Cao E, his daughter of 13 years old, decided in the course of filial piety (孝, xiao ) to search for her father in

Cao'e River - Misplaced Pages Continue

1932-470: The river. After five days, she appeared above water with her father in her arms, both dead from drowning. This act made Cao E a very famous girl, a textbook example of filial piety. The veneration of the girl started right away; from that moment on, she received the courtesy name 曹孝女 (Cao Xiaonü; Cao, the filial piety daughter). Eight years later, in 151, a temple and a tomb were built in memory of Cao E in honor of her sacrifice to save her father. A stone stele

1978-437: The temple, several wall paintings have been created describing the story of Cao E. Every year from May 15-22, there is a festival in the Cao'e-temple, with a Cao E memorial service at the temple on May 22. The temple is called the number one temple of Jiangnan . The Cao'e Tomb has been destroyed and rebuilt a few times after its construction in 151. The current tomb is 2.7 meters high and measures 7 meters wide and deep and

2024-590: The water and tried to recover his body, but they failed. In commemoration of Qu Yuan, people hold dragon boat races yearly on the day of his death according to the legend. They also scattered rice into the water to feed the fish, to prevent them from eating Qu Yuan's body, which is one of the origins of zongzi . A notable part of celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival is making and eating zongzi, also known as sticky rice dumplings, with family members and friends. People traditionally make zongzi by wrapping glutinous rice and fillings in leaves of reed or bamboo, forming

2070-544: Was made to honor her memory, but it has been lost. In 1093, Cai Bian (蔡卞) made a similar stele for her. The Shun River was renamed the Cao'e River in her honor. The Cao'e River arises at an altitude of 870 meters on the Jiangongling mountain in the Dapan Mountains in the province of Zhejiang in China. The river is 182.4 km long and flows into the Hangzhou Bay . The river has had several names such as, Shun river, named after Emperor Shun and Shangyu river, named after

2116-419: Was the beloved prime minister of the southern Chinese state of Chu during the Warring States period , about 600 B.C. to 200 B.C., and is celebrated by holding dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings called zongzi , which were southern Chinese traditions. Dragon Boat Festival integrates praying for good luck and taking respite from the summer heat. In September 2009, UNESCO officially approved

#179820