At the Duanwu festival ,people eat zongzi ,glutinous rice wrapped in triangular shape in reed leaves ,to commemorate the beloved poet Qu Yuan (c.339-c.278 BC) ,who drowned himself in the Miluo River after being politically wronged .Legend has it that people at the time threw zongzi into the river in the hope that the water dragon would not take him away . This later gradually developed into a custom of making and eating zongzi during the Duanwu Festival .