Introduction to Guofeng·Zhaonan·Jiang Yousi

"Jiang Yousi" is an article in "The Book of Songs·Zhaonan". It is a folk song from the pre-Qin era. The poem consists of three chapters, each chapter contains five lines. This is a poem about an abandoned wife. Judging from the words "Jiang" and "Tuo" written in the poem, the place of origin is in the south of Zhao (in Qishan, the fief of Duke Zhao in the early Zhou Dynasty) and the Tuojiang River area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in ancient Liangzhou. The heroine may be a business woman. The businessman abandoned her when he left Jiangtuo and returned to his hometown. Full of sorrow, she sang this tragic song. The "son" in the poem is a name used by wives and concubines in ancient times to their husbands. The Book of Songs is the first collection of poems in the history of Chinese literature. It had a profound impact on the development of poetry in later generations and became the source of the realist tradition of Chinese classical literature.