Chinese manufacturing companies are closed unti Thursday of this week for their Dragon Boat Festival holiday. Also known as Duanwu Festival, the holiday is celebrated in honor of Qu Yuan, China’s first poet.
2000 years ago, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself after being falsely accused of conspiracy. Locals began throwing cooked rice into the river in order to try to prevent the fish from consuming Qu Yuan, thus the holiday was born.
Eating rice dumplings, drinking realgar wine, and dragon boat races are commonly done during the holiday.