Why did Qu Yuan choose to drown himself in the river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month? According to textual research by domestic experts, Qu Yuan did so to follow Emperor Shun. Emperor Shun is the god of the sun and the god of light for Chu people who worship Emperor Shun on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

Qu Yuan valued the date and time when he was born and their connotations very much. In Lisao, he even claimed that he was a descendent of the god of the sun, son of the sun and the moon, and a person with the true essence of heaven and earth. While creating Shejiang, Quyuan imagined that he accompanied Emperor Shun to visit Mount Kunlun and the fairyland, and that "I'd live as long as earth and sky, and I would outshine sun and moon on high." Qu Yuan intentionally drowned himself in the river as the sun rose on the festa of Emperor Shun so that he could blend with the rising sun and get together with Emperor Yao, Emperor Shun and loyal courtiers like Peng Xian to accomplish ideal and moral politics which couldn't be realized in the real world.