Qu Yuan
Qu Ping (about 340 BC - about 278 BC) was originally named Qu Yuan; Mi's surname was Qu. Also named after Yun Zhengze, courtesy name Lingjun, Han nationality, a native of Danyang (now Zigui, Hubei Province) of the Chu State at the end of the Warring States Period, and a descendant of Qu Xia, the son of Xiong Tong, King Wu of Chu. Although Qu Yuan was loyal to King Huai of Chu, he was repeatedly ostracized. After King Huai's death, he was exiled because King Qingxiang believed in slander and eventually threw himself into the Miluo River and died. Qu Yuan is one of China's greatest romantic poets, the earliest known poet in my country, and a world cultural celebrity. He founded the literary style of "Chu Ci" and also created the tradition of "Vanilla Beauty". Representative works include "Li Sao" and "Nine Songs".
Life: Qu Yuan is a descendant of Qu Xia, the son of King Wu of Chu Xiong Tong. He was born in Danyang of Chu State (now Zigui County, Yichang City, Hubei Province) around 340 BC. He claims to be a descendant of Zhuan Xu. In his early years, Qu Yuan was trusted by King Huai of Chu and served as Zuotu and Sanlu. He often discussed state affairs with King Huai, participated in the formulation of laws, advocated clear regulations, promoted talents, reformed politics, and united Qi to fight against Qin. At the same time, he presides over foreign affairs. He advocated that Chu and Qi should unite and fight against Qin together. Promote "beautiful politics". With Qu Yuan's efforts, Chu's national strength increased. However, due to his own upright character and the slander and exclusion of others, Qu Yuan was gradually alienated by King Huai of Chu. In 305 BC, Qu Yuan objected to King Chu Huai's signing of the Yellow Thorn Alliance with Qin, but Chu still completely fell into the arms of Qin. As a result, Qu Yuan was also expelled from Yingdu by King Huai of Chu and began his life in exile. "My hair is in vain in the morning, I am in the morning sun at night..."; "I am wandering after entering Xupu, I am confused and don't know what I am doing..." During his exile, Qu Yuan left many immortal poems for future generations. His works have gorgeous words, strange imagination, novel metaphors and profound connotations, and have become one of the origins of Chinese literature. The place where Qu Yuan "went to Zhug in vain": Today's Deshan Mountain in Changde, Hunan. Picture source: Treasures from Wuling --- Illustrated Historical and Cultural Illustrations of the Yuanli River Basin/Zhou Xinguo, Zhou Bo's "The water in Canglang is clear, and you can carry my tassel with it; the water in Canglang" If it's dirty, you can wash my feet." After Qu Yuan was exiled, in a conversation with his fisherman, the fisherman advised him to "get away from the world" and not to "think deeply about exaltation" and ask for trouble. Qu Yuan said that he would rather throw himself into the river and die than let his innocent body suffer the dust of the world. According to the fisherman, one does not need to be too arrogant in life. If the world is clean and honest, you can become an official; if the world is turbid, you can rise and fall with the world. As for "thinking deeply and exalting" and ending up in exile, it is unnecessary. The conversation between Qu Yuan and the fisherman showed two philosophies of life. In 278 BC, Qin conquered the capital of Ying. On the fifth day of May of that year, Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River with a large stone in his arms and died in despair and anger.
Achievements: Qu Yuan was a poet. Since him, China has had writers who are famous for their literature. He founded the literary style of "Chu Ci" (that is, he founded the literary style of "Ci Fu"), and is known as "a poet of a different generation." Qu Yuan's works, according to the revision by Liu Xiang and Liu Xin and his son and the annotation by Wang Yi, include 25 chapters, namely 1 chapter of "Li Sao", 1 chapter of "Tian Wen", 11 chapters of "Nine Songs", and "Nine Chapters" 9 articles, including 1 each for "Yuan Yu", "Divination" and "Fisherman". According to Sima Qian's "Historical Records: Biography of Qu Yuan", there is also an article "Calling the Soul". Some scholars believe that "Dazhao" is also Qu Yuan's work; but others suspect that the following chapters of "Yuanyou" and several chapters of "Nine Chapters" were not written by Qu Yuan. According to Mr. Guo Moruo's research, 23 of Qu Yuan's works have been handed down in the world. Among them, there are 11 chapters of "Nine Songs", 9 chapters of "Nine Chapters", and one chapter each of "Li Sao", "Tian Wen" and "Calling Souls". Generally speaking, "Li Sao", "Tianwen" and "Nine Songs" can be regarded as representatives of the three types of Qu Yuan's works. The content and style of "Nine Chapters", "Yuanyou", "Divination", "Fisherman", "Summoning Souls" and "Big Move" can be grouped together with "Li Sao". Express the author's inner feelings. "Li Sao" is a magnificent poem made by Qu Yuan based on his own ideals, experiences, pain, passion and even his whole life. It shines with the brilliance of his distinctive personality and is the focus of all Qu Yuan's creations. "Tianwen" is a poem written by Qu Yuan based on myths and legends, focusing on the author's academic attainments and his views on history and nature. "Nine Songs" is a piece of music for worshiping gods from the state of Chu. It was processed and polished by Qu Yuan. It is full of a strong flavor of life in the expression of the characters' emotions and the description of the environment and atmosphere. However, it is expressed on behalf of people or gods, not the author's self-expression. It shows more traces of the Southern Chu literary tradition. The "Li Sao" group and the "Nine Songs" group constitute the basic style of Qu Yuan's works. Qu Yuan's works are closely related to mythology. Many illusory contents are developed from myths. Qu Yuan is also a poet who pays attention to reality. His works reflect various contradictions in real society, especially the dark politics of Chu State. The style of Qu Yuan's works is obviously different from that of "The Book of Songs". This is related to the difference between the folk customs in the Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River Basin. At that time, the north had already entered a patriarchal society, but the Chu region still had the legacy of a clan society. The people were strong in character, lively in thought, and not bound by etiquette and law. Therefore, the expression of love between men and women and the patriotism of patriots is so direct, and the materials used are so rich that everything can be written into the pen. They write about the love between humans and gods, about crazy people, about ancient history and legends, and about traveling with gods and ghosts. All gods have ordinary human nature among the people, and gods are just people who are beyond ordinary people.
They make the works appear bright in color, full of emotion and unrestrained momentum. Such works show different characteristics from northern literature. From an institutional point of view, most of Qu Yuan's previous poems, whether they were "The Book of Songs" or southern folk songs, were short stories, while Qu Yuan developed them into full-length poems. "Li Sao" contains more than 2,400 words. In terms of expression techniques, Qu Yuan cleverly integrated fu, bi and xing into one, and extensively used the "vanilla beauty" bi-xing technique to vividly express abstract moral character, consciousness and complex realistic relationships. In terms of language form, Qu Yuan's works break through the pattern of mainly four-character sentences in The Book of Songs. Each sentence has five, six, seven, eight, or nine characters, and there are also three-character and cross-character sentences. The syntax is uneven and flexible; The word "xi" is often used at the end of the sentence, as well as empty words such as "zhi", "yu", "hu", "hu" and "er" to coordinate the syllables and create a rhythm of ups and downs and three sighs in one song. In short, his works have great creativity from content to form. Qu Yuan's works had a greater influence after the Chu people established the Han Dynasty as its capital in Guanzhong. With the continuous spread and development of "Chu Ci", northern literature gradually became Chu-oriented. The emerging five- and seven-character poems are all related to Chu Sao. All the poets in the Han Dynasty were influenced by the "Chu Ci". There are "Shao Sao" works after the Han Dynasty in all dynasties. The authors often use Qu Yuan's poems to express their feelings, and even use Qu Yuan's experiences to describe themselves. This is the hallmark of Qu Yuan's literature. develop directly. In addition, poems, songs, lyrics, tunes, dramas, piano poems, operas, scripts, etc. based on Qu Yuan's life and deeds, as well as paintings such as Qu Yuan's portrait, "Nine Songs Picture", "Tianwen Picture", etc., are also difficult to reproduce. Count. Therefore, Lu Xun said that Qu Yuan's works were "resonant and magnificent, outstanding in the world" and "its influence on subsequent articles may be even greater than that of the Three Hundred Chapters ("The Book of Songs")" (Lu Xun's "Outline of the History of Chinese Literature"). The famous poet Guo Moruo once wrote "Ode to Thunder and Lightning" for him to commemorate his deeds.