The Fourth Yangtse River Gorges International Dragon Boat Rally opened Sunday in Yichang city of central China's Hubei Province to commemorate Qu Yuan, an ancient Chinese poet and world cultural celebrity who died more than 2000 years ago.

Twenty teams take part in the contest, which includes a 500-meter straight way speed match on Sunday and a 35-kilometer rally on Monday are held in the Zigui county of Yichang city, Qu Yuan's hometown.

Yichang, a city of a 546-thousand population lying in the middle reaches of the Yangtse River and the site of Ge Zhou Ba and Three Gorges Dam hydrogen power projects in the west mountain area of Hubei, has held the rally for three times since 1992. The rally has been recognized by the International Dragon Boat Federation as a standard contest.

Qu Yuan, the most famous poet in Chinese ancient history, took his own life by drowning himself in the Miluo River then in Zigui, his hometown, after knowing the kingdom he served was to be conquered in 278 BC. He has been seen as a legendary patriotic figure by Chinese people and was listed by the World Peace Council as one of the four world cultural celebrities in 1953. Qu Yuan's poems such as Li Sao and Jiu Ge were first introduced to overseas about 153 years ago in German language.

It is believed that the Chinese traditional festival Duanwu that is set on the fifth day of the fifth month in Chinese lunar calendar, normally in mid June and this year on 11th June, came from the date of Qu Yuan's suicide. On the day, People would make sticky rice deserts wrapped in bamboo leaves called Zongzi and throw them into the river as sacrifice, and hold dragon boat contests to commemorate the poet.

Chinese has kept the dragon boat competition tradition for nearly 1,600 years and now it has become a well-liked sport in China and some other 100 countries and regions. A dragon boat team in contest normally includes a drummer, a steersman and ten paddlers. 

(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2005)