What are the differences between the female images in The Book of Songs and Songs of the South?
As the two sources of China's poetry, The Book of Songs and The Songs of the South are produced because of their differences. The Book of Songs originated in the Central Plains, and The Songs of Chu originated in the southern Chu area known as the "barbarian land" in Qu Yuan's era. Chu people were called "barbarians" because the customs in Chu were different from those in the Central Plains at that time and the feudalization was not complete. Therefore, the etiquette system of the Central Plains did not have much influence on Chu. Therefore, the women in The Book of Songs do not have the enthusiasm in The Songs of Chu. We can compare Mrs Meng and Mrs Xiang. Compared with them, Xiangshui Goddess obviously lacks the bondage of feudal society to women and is more unrestrained and enthusiastic. She dares to express her love and shout it out. The Book of Songs originated in the Central Plains, which advocates etiquette. Although the feudalization of China began in the Warring States Period, the bondage of etiquette to women appeared before the feudalization of political and social systems. In the article "Self-protection", we can see that the women in the Book of Songs are gentler, more reserved and more introverted than those in the Songs of the South, and still retain the strong and independent personality that some women bound by feudal society in later generations lack. I put an article of my own in Baidu Library, which wrote something that might be helpful to you. If you are interested, you can look at the style differences between The Book of Songs and Songs of the South/view/9D7B6437EE06E9AEF807B8.html.