Miluo (汨罗) is a county-level city under Yueyang on the Miluo River, the longest watercourse in the prefecture at 253 kilometres, which enters Dongting Lake from the east. Its importance is literary: in 278 BC the poet Qu Yuan, exiled from the Chu court, walked into this river holding a rock, and the boat crews who tried to recover his body are the legendary origin of dragon boat racing and of the festival's rice dumplings. Chinese accounts call the Miluo the cradle of Chinese dragon boat culture, and the city hosted the first World Dragon Boat Championship in 1995. The Qu Zi shrine and the Sao Altar stand by the river as memorials to the poet.
At Miluo, the poet Qu Yuan walked into the river in 278 BC, and the boats that went after him became dragon boat racing. The story, the races and the festival that now fills the national calendar begin on this water.