As a scholar, he was successful, but as a politician, he was frustrated.
Qu Yuan, a native of the Chu state at the end of the Warring States Period, was an outstanding politician and patriotic poet. The name is Ping and the word is Yuan. Descendants of Qu Xia, son of Xiong Tong, King of Chu Wu. A native of Danyang (now Zigui, Hubei).
Qu Yuan experienced three periods in his life: King Wei of Chu, King Huai of Chu, and King Qingxiang, and he was mainly active during the period of King Huai of Chu. This period was the eve of China's imminent unification. "Horizontally, he is the Emperor of Qin, and vertically, he is the King of Chu." Qu Yuan was born in a noble family, and he was good at managing chaos and adept at rhetoric. Therefore, he was deeply favored by King Huai of Chu in his early years. He was Zuotu and Sanlu doctor. In order to realize the great cause of the unification of the Chu State, Qu Yuan actively assisted King Huai in reforming and strengthening the country internally, and firmly advocated uniting Qi to resist Qin externally, which made the Chu State become rich and powerful, and powerful among the princes. However, due to sharp conflicts between Qu Yuan and the decadent aristocratic group of Chu state in domestic and foreign affairs, and due to the jealousy of Shangguan officials and others, Qu Yuan was later framed by a small group and alienated by King Huai of Chu.
In the fifteenth year of King Huai (304 BC), Zhang Yi traveled from Qin to Chu and bribed Jin Shang, Zi Lan, Zheng Xiu and others with heavy sums of money to act as traitors. "Deceive King Huai, causing Qi and Chu to break off their diplomatic relations. After being deceived, King Huai became angry and sent troops to Qin twice, but was defeated miserably both times. So Qu Yuan was ordered to send an envoy to Qi to restore the old friendship between Qi and Chu. During this period, Zhang Yi once again traveled from Qin to Chu to disintegrate the Qi-Chu alliance, which failed. In the twenty-fourth year of King Huai's reign, Qin and Chu formed an alliance with Huang Ji, and Chu State completely fell into the arms of Qin. Qu Yuan was also expelled from Yingdu and arrived in northern Han Dynasty. In the 30th year of King Huai's reign, Qu Yuan returned to Yingdu.
In the same year, Qin invited King Huai to meet at Wuguan. King Huai was detained by Qin and eventually died in Qin. After King Qingxiang came to the throne, he continued to implement the policy of surrender. Qu Yuan was expelled from Yingdu again and exiled to the south of the Yangtze River. , wandering between the Yuan and Xiang rivers. In the 21st year of King Qingxiang's reign (278 BC), Qin general Bai Qi attacked Yingdu. Qu Yuan was so grief-stricken and angry that he sank into the Miluo River, sacrificing his political ideals. The day he committed suicide may have been May 5th or very close to that day. May 5th was originally a traditional festival in the Chu region. Later, people used this day as a day to commemorate Qu Yuan. Its original meaning is rarely known. Qu Yuan's works include "Li Sao", "Heaven". Questions", "Nine Songs" (11 articles), "Nine Chapters" (9 articles)
, "Calling Souls", 23 articles. In addition, there is still controversy in academic circles as to whether the chapters such as "Buju" and "The Fisherman" were written by Qu Yuan. Among them, "Li Sao" is Qu Yuan's masterpiece and the longest romantic political lyric poem in the history of ancient Chinese literature. "Tianwen" is a rare and unique poem in ancient and modern times. "Nine Songs" is a set of songs to worship gods based on folk sacrificial songs. A large number of images of gods are created in the poem, most of which are It’s a love song between man and god
. The conflict between Qu Yuan and the highest ruling group of Chu State was due to many reasons. King Xiang was timid about compromising and could not accept Qu Yuan's correct ideas. Instead, he punished him for insisting on his own opinion. In terms of domestic affairs, Qu Yuan advocated "amending laws and regulations", "promoting talents and empowering talents", and implementing "beautiful policies" to make the country prosperous and strong. He admired the legendary sage kings and virtuous ministers in Confucianism and had a certain idealistic attitude towards politics. At the same time, he despised the corrupt nobles and advocated reform of internal affairs, which of course made many people his enemies. In addition, Qu Yuan's character was also an important reason for his tragedy.
It should be said that Qu Yuan's character and his idealistic attitude towards politics were difficult to reconcile with the actual political environment, not to mention that the Chu State was in a state of decline and chaos at that time. In history, this kind of contradiction between a poet's temperament and his environment has constantly caused tragedies in life, and at the same time created excellent literature. In Chinese history, Qu Yuan is the poet most admired and loved by the people. According to "Xu Qi Xie Ji" and "Sui Shu Geography", Qu Yuan committed suicide by throwing himself into the river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Chinese folk customs of making rice dumplings and racing dragon boats during the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5th originated from people's commemoration of Qu Yuan. In 1953, Qu Yuan was also listed as one of the world's "four major cultural celebrities" and was solemnly commemorated by the World Peace Council and people all over the world.