As far as the poetic genre is concerned, it is a new poetic style created by poets represented by Qu Yuan on the basis of Chu folk songs at the end of the Warring States Period.
As far as the collection name is concerned, it is a collection of poems written by Liu Xiang in the Western Han Dynasty on the basis of predecessors, which includes the works of Qu Yuan and Song Yu, Chu people in the Warring States Period, as well as parodies of Jia Yi, Huainan Xiaoshan, Yan Ji, Dong Fangshuo, Bao Wang and Liu Xiang in the Han Dynasty.
The name "Chu Ci" first appeared in Records of the Historian and Biography of Corrupt Officials. It can be seen that this name already existed in the early Han Dynasty at the latest. Its original meaning refers to Chu Ci in general, and later becomes a proper name, which refers to the new poetic style represented by Qu Yuan's creation during the Warring States Period. This poetic style has a strong regional cultural color.
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang collected the works of Qu Yuan and Song Yu, as well as the works of Han people imitating this poetic style. The title is "Song of the South". This is another far-reaching poetry collection in ancient China after The Book of Songs. In addition, because Qu Yuan's Li Sao is a masterpiece of Chu Ci, Chu Ci is also called "Sao" or "Sao Style". People in the Han Dynasty also generally called Chu Ci "Fu". According to Historical Records, Qu Yuan "wrote Huai Sha". There are also names such as Qu and Song Yufu in Hanshu.