Chu Ci is China's first collection of romantic poems. Because the form of poetry is formed on the basis of Chu folk songs, and a large number of local products and dialect vocabulary of Chu are quoted in this paper, it is called "Chu Ci". The Songs of the South are mainly the works of Qu Yuan, and the representative work is Li Sao, so later generations also call the Songs of the South "Sao Style". At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang collected the works of Qu Yuan, Song Yu and others and compiled them into an anthology. Chuci has a far-reaching influence on later generations' literature, which not only created the style of writing in later generations, but also influenced the creation of prose in previous dynasties. It is the source of positive romantic poetry creation in China.
The main author of Songs of the South is Qu Yuan. He created such immortal works as Li Sao, Nine Songs, Nine Chapters and Nine Questions. Under the influence of Qu Yuan, Chu also produced Song Yu, Le Tang, Jing Ke and other Chu Ci writers. The existing Songs of Chu are always concentrated, mainly the works of Qu Yuan and Song Yu. Most of Le Tang's and Jing Ke's works have not survived.
As for the characteristics of Chu Ci, Huang in Song Dynasty summarized it in the Preface to the Correction of Chu Ci: "Gaiqu, Song Sao all wrote Chu language, Chu sound, Chu land and Chu objects, so Gu can be called Chu Ci." This statement is correct. In addition, the historical legends, fairy tales, customs and habits, artistic techniques and rich lyric styles involved in the works of Qu and Song in Chu Ci all have distinct Chu culture colors. These are the basic features of Chu Ci and an important part of Chu culture that complements the Central Plains culture.