[7] In Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Taiwan, zongzi is known as bakcang, bacang, or zang (from Hokkien Chinese: 肉粽; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bah-chàng; lit.

[9][10] In Mauritius, zongzi (typically called zong), is a traditional dish which continues to be eaten by the Sino-Mauritian and by the Overseas Chinese communities.

[11] What has become established popular belief amongst the Chinese is that zongzi has since the days of yore been a food-offering to commemorate the death of Qu Yuan, a famous poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period.

[15] But by the 6th century, sources attest to the offering of zongzi on the Double Fifth Festival (5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar) being connected with the figure of Qu Yuan.

[16] As for the origin myth, a fable recounts that the people commemorated the drowning death of Qu Yuan on the Double Fifth day by casting rice stuffed in bamboo tubes; but the practice changed in the early Eastern Han dynasty (1st century AD),[17][b] when the ghost of Qu Yuan appeared in a dream to a man named Ou Hui (Chinese: 區回, 歐回) and instructed him to seal the rice packet with chinaberry (or Melia) leaves and bind it with colored string, to repel the dragons (jiaolong) that would otherwise consume them.

[18][19][20][21] Also, Qu Yuan had (dubiously, by "folklore" or by common belief) become connected with the boat races held on the Double Fifth, datable by another 6th century source.

That the zong or ziao shu prepared in this way was eaten on the occasion of the Double Fifth (Duanwu) is documented in works as early as the Fengsu Tongyi, AD 195).

[31][32] Anecdotally, an official called Lu Xun [zh] from the Jin dynasty once sent zongzi which used yizhiren [zh] (Chinese: 益智仁, the fruit of Alpinia oxyphylla or sharp leaf galangal) as additional filling; this type of dumpling was then dubbed yizhi zong (Chinese: 益智粽, literally "dumplings to increase wisdom").

[31][32] In the 6th century (Sui to early Tang dynasty), the dumpling is also being referred to as "tubular zong" (Chinese: 筒糉/筒粽; pinyin: tongzong), and they were being made by being packed inside "young bamboo" tubes.

In the Northern Song dynasty period, the "New augmentation to the Shuowen Jiezi" (Chinese: 説文新附; pinyin: Shouwen xinfu) glossed zong as rice with reed leaves wrapped around it.

In the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the wrapping material had changed from gu (wild rice) leaf to ruo (箬; the Indocalamus tessellatus bamboo) leaf, and then to reed leaves,[32][dubious – discuss]and filled with materials like bean paste, pine nut kernel, pork, walnut,[32] jujube, and so on.

Because it looked long and thin like a writing brush, the pronunciation of "pen zongzi" is similar to the Chinese word for "pass", which was for good omen.

[37][better source needed] Every year in early May of the lunar calendar, the Chinese people still soak glutinous rice, wash the leaves and wrap up zongzi.

[44] However, as the variations of zongzi styles have traveled and become mixed, today one can find all kinds of them at traditional markets, and their types are not confined to which side of the Yellow River they originated from.