Qu Yuan (c. 340 BC – 278 BC)[1][2][3] was a Chinese poet and aristocrat in theState of Chu during theWarring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions toclassical poetry and verses, especially through the poems of theChu Ci anthology (also known asThe Songs of the South orSongs of Chu): a volume of poems attributed to or considered to be inspired by hisverse writing. Together with theShi Jing, theChu Ci is one of the two greatest collections of ancient Chinese verse. He is also remembered in connection to the supposed origin of theDragon Boat Festival.
Historical details about Qu Yuan's life are few, and his authorship of manyChu Ci poems has been questioned at length.[4] However, he is widely accepted to have written "The Lament," aChu Ci poem. The first known reference to Qu Yuan appears in a poem written in 174 BC byJia Yi, an official fromLuoyang who was slandered by jealous officials and banished toChangsha byEmperor Wen of Han. While traveling, he wrote a poem describing the similar fate of a previous "Qu Yuan."[5] Eighty years later, the first known biography of Qu Yuan's life appeared inHan dynasty historianSima Qian'sRecords of the Grand Historian, though it contains a number of contradictory details.[6]
The only surviving source of information on Qu Yuan's life isSima Qian's biography of him inShiji, although the biography is circumstantial and probably influenced greatly by Sima's own identification with Qu.[7][8] Sima wrote that Qu was a member of theChu royal clan and served as an official underKing Huai of Chu (reigned 328–299 BC).[9]
During the early days of King Huai's reign, Qu Yuan was serving the State of Chu as its Left Minister.[1] However, King Huai exiled Qu Yuan to the region north of theHan River, because corrupt ministers slandered him and influenced the king.[1] Eventually, Qu Yuan was reinstated and sent on a diplomatic mission to the State of Qi.[10] He tried to resume relations between Chu and Qi, which King Huai had broken under the false pretense ofKing Hui of Qin to cede territory near Shangyu.[11]
DuringKing Qingxiang's reign, Prime Minister Zilan slandered Qu Yuan.[10] This caused Qu Yuan's exile to the regions south of theYangtze River.[10] It is said that Qu Yuan returned first to his home town. In hisexile, he spent much of this time collecting legends and rearranging folk odes while traveling the countryside. Furthermore, he wrote some of the greatest poetry inChinese literature and expressed deep concerns about his state.[10] According to legend, his anxiety brought him to an increasingly troubled state of health. During his depression, he would often take walks near a certain well to look upon his thin and gaunt reflection in the water. This well became known as the "Face Reflection Well." On a hillside in Xiangluping (at present-dayZigui County,Hubei Province), there is a well that is considered to be the original well from the time of Qu Yuan.[citation needed]
In 278 BC, learning of the capture of his country's capital,Ying, by GeneralBai Qi of thestate of Qin, Qu Yuan is said to have collected folktales and written the lengthy poem of lamentation calledLament for Ying. Eventually, hedied by suicide, wading into theMiluo River in today's Hunan Province while holding a rock. Why he chose death was argued by Chinese scholars for centuries. Typical explanations included martyrdom for his beloved but falling motherland – suggested bySong dynasty philosopherZhu Xi – or extreme despair of the political in Chu, realizing his lifelong political dream would never be achieved. But according toYu Fu, widely considered to be written by Qu himself or a person very familiar with him, suicide was an ultimate way to protect his innocence and life principles.[citation needed]
According toLi Yinhe, Qu Yuan is said to have expressed his love for the ruling monarch,King Huai of Chu, through several of this works, including theLi Sao andLonging for Beauty.[12]
Qu Yuan is regarded as the first author of verse in China to have his name associated to his work, since prior to that time, poetic works were not attributed to any specific authors. He is considered to have initiated the so-calledsao style of verse, which is named after his workLi Sao, in which he abandoned the classic four-character verses used in poems ofShi Jing and adopted verses with varying lengths. This resulted in poems with more rhythm and latitude in expression. Qu Yuan is also regarded as one of the most prominent figures ofRomanticism in Chinese classical literature, and his masterpieces influenced some of the great Romanticist poets in the Tang dynasty. During theHan dynasty, Qu Yuan became established as a heroic example of model behaviour for a scholar-official denied public recognition suitable to their worth.[13]
Chu was located in what is now theYangzi River area of central China. At this time, Chu represented the southern fringe of the Chinese cultural area, having been at times an ally, opponent, or subunit of theShang andZhou kingdoms. However, the Chu culture also retained certain characteristics of local traditions such asshamanism, the influence of which can be seen in theChu Ci.[14]
TheChu Ci was compiled and annotated byWang Yi (died AD 158), and is the source of transmission of these poems and any reliable information about them to subsequent times; thus, the role which Qu Yuan had in the authoring, editing, or retouching of these works remains unclear.[15] TheChu Ci poems are important as being direct precursors of thefu style of Han dynasty literature.[16] TheChu Ci, as a preservation of early literature, has provided invaluable data for linguistic research into the history of the Chinese language, fromChen Di on.
Qu Yuan began to be treated in anationalist way as "China's firstpatriotic poet" duringWorld War II.[18]Wen Yiduo—a socialist poet and scholar later executed by theChinese Nationalist Party—wrote in hisMythology & Poetry that, "although Qu Yuan did not write about the life of the people or voice their sufferings, he may truthfully be said to have acted as the leader of a people's revolution and to have struck a blow to avenge them. Qu Yuan is the only person in the whole of Chinese history who is fully entitled to be called 'the people's poet'."[19]Guo Moruo's 1942playQu Yuan[20] gave him similar treatment, drawing parallels toHamlet andKing Lear.[18] Their view of Qu's social idealism and unbending patriotism became canonical under thePeople's Republic of China after the 1949Communist victory in theChinese Civil War.[18][13] For example, one high-school Chinese textbook from 1957 began with the sentence "Qu Yuan was the first great patriotic poet in the history of our country's literature".[21] This cult status increased Qu Yuan's position within China's literary canon, seeing him placed onpostage stamps[22] and theDragon Boat Festival elevated to anational public holiday in 2008. It has, however, come at the expense of more the critical scholarly appraisals of Qu Yuan's historicity and alleged body of work that had developed during the lateQing andearly Republic.[18]
Popular legend has it that villagers carried their dumplings and boats to the middle of the river and desperately tried to save Qu Yuan after he immersed himself in the Miluo but were too late to do so. However, in order to keep fish and evil spirits away from his body, they beat drums and splashed the water with their paddles, and they also threw rice into the water both as a food offering to Qu Yuan's spirit and also to distract the fish away from his body. However, the legend continues, that late one night, the spirit of Qu Yuan appeared before his friends and told them that he died because he had taken himself under the river. Then, he asked his friends to wrap their rice into three-cornered silk packages to ward off the dragon.
These packages became a traditional food known aszongzi, although the lumps of rice are now wrapped in leaves instead of silk. The act of racing to search for his body in boats gradually became the cultural tradition ofdragon boat racing, held on the anniversary of his death every year. Today, people still eatzongzi and participate in dragon boat races to commemorate Qu Yuan's sacrifice on the fifth day of the fifth month of the traditional lunisolarChinese calendar. The countries around China, such as Vietnam and Korea, also celebrate variations of thisDragon Boat Festival as part of theirshared cultural heritage.[citation needed]
China'sinterplanetary exploration program,Tianwen (Heavenly Questions) is named after a poem by Qu Yuan. The first mission to Mars,Tianwen-1, was launched on July 23, 2020, and reached Mars on February 10, 2021. On Mar 14, 2021, the lander and rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars.
Hartman, Charles (1986). "Ch'ü Yüan 屈原". In Nienhauser, William H. Junior (ed.).The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Volume 1. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 352.ISBN0-253-32983-3.
Hawkes, David (1959),Ch'u Tz'u: The Songs of the South, an Ancient Chinese Anthology, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hinton, David (2008),Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology, New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux,ISBN978-0-374-10536-5.
Hu, Mingyuan (2024),Lament in Love: The Verses of Qu Yuan, London: Hermits United,ISBN978-1-7391156-4-7.
Kern, Martin (2010). "Early Chinese literature, Beginnings through Western Han". InOwen, Stephen (ed.).The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1: To 1375. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–115.ISBN978-0-521-11677-0.
Knechtges, David R. (2010). "Qu Yuan 屈原". InKnechtges, David R.; Chang, Taiping (eds.).Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part One. Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 4: China, volume 25/1. Leiden: Brill. pp. 745–749.doi:10.1163/9789047444664_002.ISBN978-90-04-19127-3.
"The Dragon Boat Festival" (article reproduced from Volume 1, number 2 of the newsletter of Families with Children from China of the San Francisco Bay Area)
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