For someone born in Taiwan and can speak Chinese fairly well, I am woefully ignorant about a lot of Chinese culture. One of them is the Dragon Boat Festival, or 端午節 in Chinese. I mostly remember it as the holiday when you eat sticky rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves. One of my few memories of growing up in Taiwan was watching my grandma make these stick rice balls with lots of finished ones wrapped in bamboo leaves and string so they can be steamed later. I just had one for lunch today.
Without Googling, I believe the story is about a scholar in some previous dynasty that was opposed to the new emperor. He refused to write positive things about the emperor, so he was thrown into a lake or river to drown. The people would later go out on the water in boats and throw these rice balls into the lake/river for the fish to eat so they will not eat the body of the scholar. Or something like that.
After reading the linked Wikipedia article, I am only about 50% correct. According to the most popular story, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the lake. At least I got the stick rice ball and fish food part right.
Life with chronic diseases 