Dragon Boat Festival and Suicide
The Dragon Boat Festival is called Duan Wu Jie in Chinese. Like other Chinese festivals, there is also a legend behind the festival.
Qu Yuan served in the court of Emperor Huai during the Warring States (475 - 221 BC). He was a wise and learned man. His fight against corruption angered other court officials. They used their influence on the Emperor, persuading him to dismiss Qu Yuan and eventually exile him.
During his exile, Qu Yuan did not give up. He traveled, taught and wrote about his ideas. His works, the Lament (Li Sao), the Nine Chapters (Jiu Zhang), and Wen tian, are literary masterpieces and allow us to study ancient Chinese culture.
He saw the gradual decline of his mother country, the Chu State. When he heard that the Chu State was defeated by the strong Qin State, he ended his life by flinging himself into the Miluo River.
Legend says after people heard he drowned, they were greatly dismayed. Fishermen raced to the spot in their boats to search for his body. Unable to find his body, people threw zongzi, eggs and other food into the river to feed fish, so hoping to salvage his body. Since then, people started to commemorate Qu Yuan through dragon boat races, eating zongzi and other activities, on the anniversary of his death, the 5th day of the fifth month.
When do you think it is OK to commit suicide? Is it honorable to commit suicide when faced with difficulties?
The following is a list of other people who have also committed suicide - all for different reasons.
Edwin Armstrong, (1954), US inventor of FM radio; jumped from a 13th floor window believing FM radio was a failure.
Pierre Bérégovoy, (1993), French Prime Minister, killed himself a month after losing a general election.
Adam Czerniakow, (1942), Warsaw Ghetto leader killed himself rather than obey Nazi orders.
Wafa Idis, (2002), Palestian. The first female suicide bomber and known as the modern Joan of Arc to her peers. She started a deadly new trend: female suicide bombers.
For a more extensive list of suicides go to Wikipedia:
personally, i do not agree with the people who meet difficulties and committe the suicide. I think this is a way to avoid the problems but not away to solve problems.
Comment by yan ming, sam — June 14, 2005 @ 5:05 am
Duan Wu Jie is the traditional festival in China. And today, we need to learn the spirit of Qu Yuan—- to be honest~~
Comment by Christina, Lee — June 14, 2005 @ 5:34 am
En~That’s fairly interesting.
I would not suiside anyway, because i realized that no such dying way is not painful, and I’m afraid of pain. Plus, I’ll never see Mr. Marshall again if i’m dead.haha~~
Comment by Bonnie — June 14, 2005 @ 8:58 am