Three die as dragon boat capsizes during training

Three people were killed after a dragon boat capsized in a river during a training session of a local dragon boat race in Xiushan county in Chongqing, according to a report by the news portal www.thepaper.cn on Sunday morning.

On June 5, a dragon boat participating in the 12th Chongqing-Hunan-Guizhou Border City Dragon Boat Race capsized during a training session in Hong'an Ancient Town of Xiushan county.

The race was scheduled to be held in the ancient town on June 8-9.

A local official told The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) on Sunday morning that the accident resulted in the deaths of three people and minor injuries to several others. All the deceased have been recovered from the water. The dragon boat race has now been canceled.

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a Chu state official and poet who lived during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) before the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). He was exiled after opposing his king's decision to ally with the neighboring state of Qin, and when Chu was finally conquered by Qin, he committed suicide by drowning in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

The Chu people, who admired Qu Yuan for his loyalty and integrity, threw rice dumplings into the river to feed the fish so they would not eat the body of their poet hero. People then started dragon boat racing to scare off the fish.