(East-West Question) Cai Jingquan: How did the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival evolve and "out of the circle" overseas?
China News Agency, Wuhan, June 2nd: How did the Dragon Boat Festival customs evolve and "out of the circle" overseas?
——Interview with Cai Jingquan, Vice President of China Qu Yuan Society
China News Agency reporter Liang Ting Ma Furong Guo Xiaoying
Among the four major traditional festivals in China, the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the only one so far recognized as a world intangible cultural heritage.
The Dragon Boat Festival, which evolved into the Tang Dynasty, has a general shape and has been passed down for more than a thousand years. Although it is different in different parts of China, it is based on the theme of commemorating the great poet Qu Yuan, and the main content is eating zongzi and dragon boat racing.
How did the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival evolve into a festival commemorating Qu Yuan?
How did Qu Yuan's culture spread overseas and reflect its value in the exchange between the East and the West?
Recently, Cai Jingquan, professor of Central China Normal University, vice president of the Qu Yuan Society of China, and president of the Qu Yuan Research Society of Hubei Province, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West Questions" to interpret this.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: How did the Dragon Boat Festival originate?
Cai Jingquan:
There are no less than ten theories about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as commemorating Qu Yuan, commemorating Wu Zixu, commemorating Goujian, the Summer Solstice Festival, and offering sacrifices to the dragon.
However, a more reasonable and credible argument originates from the Summer Solstice Festival in the pre-Qin period.
The summer solstice is one of the four major solar terms (spring equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox, and winter solstice) identified by the ancients in the pre-Qin period.
Because it is very important in dividing the season, indicating the phenology and carrying out agricultural activities, it was valued by the ancients.
The ancients held some activities on the summer solstice to pray for a good harvest and well-being, and to eliminate disasters and plagues.
Along the way, the summer solstice has become a summer festival with increasingly rich folk activities.
The date of the summer festival is generally in the fifth month of the summer calendar, which is suitable for agricultural affairs, that is, the fifth day of the midsummer month and around it.
Perhaps with the prevalence of yin and yang and the five elements, people in the Warring States period used the ebb and flow of yin and yang to illustrate the seasonal changes, and the five elements were used to match the four seasons and the five directions, and the "five" was regarded as the "five". Fix the holiday on May 5th.
May 5th, also known as "Duanwu" or "Dragon Boat Festival".
"Duan" is the beginning, "wu" and "wu" are homophonic and false characters.
In the Han Dynasty, the court designated the prayer activity on May 5th as a national ceremony.
If the summer solstice is connected with the Dragon Boat Festival, the prayer activities of the summer solstice and the Dragon Boat Festival will be integrated into one.
The summer solstice and the Dragon Boat Festival, when the prayer activities are held, have become a major national festival because the imperial court has determined that the Dragon Boat Festival is a ceremony.
Fujian folk custom of Dragon Boat Festival - dragon boat launching.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
China News Agency reporter: The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival has nothing to do with Qu Yuan, why did it become a festival with the theme of commemorating Qu Yuan?
Cai Jingquan:
Probably the Han people regard May 5th as a ferocious day with yin qi and cuteness and easy death, and also regard this day as the death anniversary of the deceased, and then commemorate some respected figures on this day, such as cutting shares and lords instead of Jie Zitui, who begged for glory, Wu Zixu, who was loyal and virtuous but was abandoned and forced to death, Cao E, a filial daughter who drowned in the river while seeking her father's body and drowned, Chen Lin, the prefect of Cangwu who was diligent and cherishing the people and had outstanding political achievements, and who was loyal to the king and patriotic and hated her. Jiang's Qu Yuan.
According to literature records, among the five figures who were commemorated on the Dragon Boat Festival during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Jie Zitui was the earliest, followed by Wu Zixu, then Qu Yuan, Cao E and Chen Lin were both late; In general, Qu Yuan is the most popular, followed by Jie Zitui, Wu Zixu again, Cao E and Chen Lin are both narrow.
This means that in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Qu Yuan was the most widely commemorated historical figure during the Dragon Boat Festival.
There are three main reasons:
First, Qu Yuan's experience of being shunned and exiled due to his loyalty made him known to the people during his life when he was shunned to Hanbei and exiled to Jiangnan, and his deeds have been widely publicized by the people for a long time.
Second, Qu Yuan's works of Chu poetry, such as Li Sao, which expressed patriotic thoughts and ups and downs, and expressed the ideal of "beautiful politics" and pure personality, overwhelmed the cultural elites from the end of the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty with their great spirit, morality and artistic charm. Chu Ci was popular in society, and literati competed to study and imitate Chu Ci. Qu Yuan was regarded as a model of moral personality, and Chu Ci was regarded as a model of literature and art.
Third, the weakening of royal power, political chaos, social turmoil, and national crisis in the late Eastern Han Dynasty prompted people from all walks of life to miss Qu Yuan, who fought for the ideal of "beautiful governance" of the state and the land, the prosperity of the state, and the happiness of the people. , and consciously participated in the Dragon Boat Festival commemorative activities "also because of Qu Yuan".
In Qu Yuan's hometown of Zigui County, Hubei Province, "Qu Yuan" actors lead pupils to recite Qu Yuan's work "Li Sao".
Photo by Wang Huifu issued by China News Agency
China News Service reporter: In the thousands of years of historical inheritance, what changes have the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival experienced? What's the point?
Cai Jingquan:
Generally speaking, the evolution of the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival since the Han Dynasty has gone through several key periods:
One is the Han Dynasty.
The Han Dynasty established the Dragon Boat Festival and made the Dragon Boat Festival a major national holiday.
In the later period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, social turmoil continued, and the people hoped to realize the "peace and happiness of the state and soil" that Qu Yuan pursued and described.
The custom of offering sacrifices to Qu Yuan on the Dragon Boat Festival was widely popularized and attracted people from all walks of life to participate.
People celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival "also because of Qu Yuan".
The second is the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Commemorating Qu Yuan has gradually become the main content of the Southern Dragon Boat Festival activities. Some activities originally for praying, such as eating rice dumplings and tying five-color silk, are also connected with the commemoration of Qu Yuan. Folklore about Qu Yuan and the Dragon Boat Festival is constantly enriched.
Not only that, the legend of Qu Yuan's throwing into the river and the people rushing to rescue people with boats has formed the most grand, solemn and important event of the Dragon Boat Festival - racing.
The custom of May 5th is no longer "also because of Qu Yuan", but the main person is Qu Yuan.
The third is the Sui and Tang Dynasties when the society was unified.
The fusion of northern and southern cultures prevailed in the south with the theme of commemorating Qu Yuan and the Dragon Boat Festival customs with eating rice dumplings and racing as the main content.
Wenxiu, a poet and monk in the late Tang Dynasty, sang: "Whoever said the Dragon Boat Festival in the festival, it is rumored that it is Qu Yuan."
The Dragon Boat Festival is the evolution of Qu Yuan's festivals and customs, which is created by history and chosen by the people.
The significance of its evolution and finalization is mainly: enriching the content of festivals and related facilities, making festival activities various and exciting, attracting people from all walks of life to participate and inherit development; ; Promote cultural identity and national unity, contribute to national unity and prosperity, and world peace and development.
Learn to make dumplings.
Photo by Wang Huifu issued by China News Agency
China News Service reporter: How to understand "Qu Yuan culture"? How did "Qu Yuan Culture" spread around the world?
Cai Jingquan:
Qu Yuan's lofty historical status and profound historical influence have formed a cultural phenomenon and cultural tradition in Chinese history, which is the "Qu Yuan Culture".
The culture of Qu Yuan is the cultural creation achievements and cultural expressions of Qu Yuan and his poems and derived from them. cultural system of expression.
"Chu Ci".
Photo by Su Kaze issued by China News Agency
Qu Yuan's culture going overseas is a historical process from near to far, from narrow to wide.
Chu Ci first spread to neighboring countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia in the cultural circle of Chinese characters, and had a great influence on North Korea and Japan.
Most of the ancient Korean literati admired Qu Yuan, recited Chu Ci with great devotion, and wrote a large number of poems and poems of Chu Ci that praised Qu Yuan.
Famous masters of Sao governance who are longer than Chu Ci also emerged in the Joseon Dynasty of the Li clan.
The spirit of Qu Yuan and the art of Chu poetry have profoundly affected the development of Korean history and culture.
According to the research of Japanese scholars, as early as the early 7th century, the Japanese probably already knew about Qu Yuan and Chu Ci.
The poetry collection "Chu Ci" edited in the Han Dynasty was introduced to Japan during the Nara period (710-794).
In the 20th century, the study of Chu Ci in Japan entered a new stage, and a group of Qu Yuan and Chu Ci research experts emerged.
Due to geographical distance and language barriers, people in Europe and the United States have a late understanding of Qu Yuan and Chu Ci.
The spread of Chu Ci to Europe probably began with the hands of missionaries who came to China in the 17th century.
According to the research conducted by researchers in recent years, European scholars have translated and introduced more than 200 kinds of documents of Chu Ci, including more than a dozen languages such as English, French, German, and Latin.
In the 20th century, Chu Ci became the teaching content and even the research direction of Chinese literature in European and American universities. Many translations of Chu Ci in various languages were published in European and American countries.
Since the 20th century, Chu Ci has clearly influenced European and American literary creation.
China News Service reporter: Qu Yuan's culture spread overseas, not only with the spread of Chu Ci, but also with the spread of the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. What are the similarities and differences between the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival at home and abroad?
Cai Jingquan:
The custom of the Dragon Boat Festival is the custom of the people's festival activities, and it has a wide influence overseas.
So far, the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival has been widely spread around the world due to the gathering of Chinese people living in different parts of the world and the fact that it has become a world intangible cultural heritage.
The festival still falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the Chinese lunar calendar, or around it as the central day.
The national cultural traditions and social life habits of different countries are still different, so the Dragon Boat Festival customs spread overseas have variations in content and form.
The Dragon Boat Festival customs introduced into Japan have evolved into "Boys' Day" to pray for the healthy growth of boys, but the traditions include hanging calamus, inserting mugwort, drinking calamus wine, bathing with calamus water, eating rice dumplings and rice cakes, and even holding races and other customs. .
The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival in Vietnam have inherited customs such as picking herbs (mainly calamus, mugwort and other herbs), eating rice dumplings, drinking realgar wine, smearing realgar wine on children and wearing sachets to repel insects and poison.
In Singapore, where Chinese are the main body, and in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia, where there are many Chinese, there is a habit of eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival.
Local Chinese also hold races.
In recent decades, the traditional Dragon Boat Festival has developed into an international sports event such as dragon boat racing.
Some countries, such as Russia, Germany and the United States, also held dragon boat races on the Dragon Boat Festival.
Dragon Boat Race in Toronto, Canada.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yu Ruidong
The custom of the Dragon Boat Festival is increasingly spread around the world, which reflects the recognition of the people of the world to Qu Yuan culture.
It contains the aspirations of the people for the prosperity and stability of the country, the harmony and justice of the society, the happiness and beauty of life, and the well-being and purity of the world, which are in harmony with the ideals of all mankind.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Cai Jingquan, a native of Dong'an, Hunan, graduated from Wuhan University in January 1982. He is a professor of Central China Normal University, the vice president of China Qu Yuan Association, and the president of Hubei Qu Yuan Research Association.
He has successively published "History of Chu Literature" (single author), "Chu Culture Evolution History" (single author), "Chu Culture Chronicles" (co-authored), "Chinese Romantic Literature History" (co-authored), "History of Chinese Poetry" "(Japanese translation, co-translation), "Chu madman Qu Yuan and Chinese political mythology" (English translation, co-translation), "Cultural Heritage" (single) and other works.