Qu Yuan (about 340 BC-278 BC), a native of Zigui, Danyang, the State of Chu (now Yichang, Hubei), was a poet and politician in the Warring States Period. The founder of China's romantic literature, the founder and representative writer of Songs of the South, pioneered the tradition of "vanilla beauty" and was hailed as the "ancestor of Songs of the South", which had a far-reaching influence on later poetry. Qu Yuan is a bright pearl in the history of China literature and is regarded as one of the four cultural celebrities in the world.
Qu Yuan's works include Li Sao, Tian Wen and Nine Chapters and Nine Songs. These poems are rich in imagination, sincere in feelings, far-reaching and brilliant, which has established Qu Yuan's position as a romantic poet.
For example, his work Li Sao is rich in imagination and flowery in rhetoric. Using a lot of myths and legends, the sun, the moon and the wind are written in the lyrics. Good at using beauty and vanilla to compare a gentleman; Evil trees and dirty grass are compared with villains, and the scene of the king's greedy minister, traitor in power and patriot who has no choice but to serve the country is vividly written by means of contrast, which is full of romantic spirit. His ardent pursuit of ideals is integrated into his imagination of art and magical artistic conception. Li Sao expresses his patriotic enthusiasm and the poet's sincere sincerity to the country and the nation, which deeply touches the readers' heartstrings.