Visitors commemorating ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan who died more than 2000 years ago increased remarkably on Saturday, China's traditional Dragon Boat Festival.

Visitors to the Qu Yuan Memorial in Miluo City, Hunan Province were almost twice as many as usual, including visitors from the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, said Xu Weiming, head of the memorial.

With the opening of the Miluo River International Dragon Boat Rally Saturday, a number of participants and tourists were attracted to the memorial to commemorate the great patriotic poet.

"I will definitely bring my team to the Qu Yuan memorial after the rally," said Wu Peiqi, leader of the Singapore dragon boat team, "to feel the soul of the Chinese nation."

Qu Yuan lived in the state of Chu during the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC). He drowned himself in the Miluo River in Hunan Province, central China, on the fifth of the fifth month of the year of 278 BC of the Chinese lunar calendar, hoping that his death could stimulate the king to revitalize their kingdom.

The date has since been remembered as the Dragon Boat Festival, when local fishermen row dragon boats along the Miluo River to search for Qu Yuan and scatter glutinous rice dumplings, known as Zongzi in Chinese, into the water to prevent fish and shrimps from attacking his body.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2005)