Five Poisons

The Five Poisons (Chinese: 五毒; Pinyin: wǔ dú; Jyutping: ng5 duk6; Vietnamese: Ngũ độc), or the five noxious creatures, can refer to an ancient Chinese set of poisonous or otherwise hazardous animals[1] or five perceived threats the Chinese Communist Party sees for its rule over mainland China.

[1] The Ancient Chinese believed that the only way to combat poison was with poison, and one way they believed that they could protect themselves on this day was by drinking realgar wine which contains arsenic sulfide, another way to protect themselves on this day was by hanging pictures of Zhong Kui, another custom holds that the Chinese should mix mercury (cinnabar) with wine, or using Gu poison to combat these creatures, however by far the most common way of protecting themselves was using "Five poison" charms and amulets (五毒錢), it was also customary for Chinese parents to let their children wear these amulets that have pictures of the 5 poisons or otherwise hang small pouches filled with mugwort around the necks of these children.

[1] The Wudu cake is a traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival in north China.

[4] According to commentators and government documents, the Five Poisons are five perceived threats to the stability of the rule of the Chinese Communist Party.

[9] One of the responsibilities of the Ministry of State Security is to gather intelligence and target the Five Poisons.