1. "Songs of Chu"
A collection of Chu literature during the Warring States Period. Compiled by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty and Wang Yi's chapters of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It originally collected 16 poems and poems by Qu Yuan and Song Yu from Chu, as well as Huainan Xiaoshan, Dongfang Shuo, Wang Bao, Liu Xiang and others in the Han Dynasty. Later, Wang Yi added his own work "Nine Thoughts" to make 17 poems. The book mainly focuses on Qu Yuan's works, among which "Li Sao", "Nine Songs", "Tian Wen" and other chapters preserve a lot of historical materials and myths and legends, which can be used as a reference for historians. Qu Yuan (about 339 BC to about 278 BC), named Ping. He was first appointed as Zuotu and Sanlu official of Prince Huai of Chu. Because he advocated clarifying the law, promoting talents and talents, and uniting Qi to resist Qin, he was slandered by King Huai Zizilan and Jin Shang and others and was dismissed. During the reign of King Qingxiang, Qu Yuan was exiled. Unable to save Chu from danger and unable to realize his political ideals, he threw himself into the Miluo River and died. "Li Sao" is Qu Yuan's masterpiece. This magnificent political lyric expresses the author's progressive ideals, his unremitting struggle to realize his ideals, the setbacks he encountered in the struggle, and his own anguish. Qu Yuan often cited history to express his feelings and seek lessons from it, "The above-mentioned systems of Tang, Yu, and the Three Empresses were followed by the defeat of Jie, Zhou, Yi, and Chu. It was hoped that the emperor of Ji would wake up and go against the right path and return it to himself." Among them. In some places, it can be supplemented by mutual reference with historical books. For example, "Li Sao" says: "Starting Jiubian and Jiugexi, Xia Kang entertained himself. Regardless of the difficulty of planning for the future, the five sons used their money and lost their homes. Yi's promiscuous wanderings were lost. He is so angry that he likes to shoot the sky and seal the fox. He is greedy for his husband and his family. He indulges in lust and forgets himself. "Xia Jie's frequent disobedience led to disaster." The history of the Xia Dynasty described in this paragraph is quite complete and can be consulted with "Zuo Zhuan". The supplementary "Historical Records of Xia" does not mention the affairs of Yi and Zhuo. omission. In addition, from the descriptions of Xihe, Wangshu, Feilian, Fenglong, and Mi Fei in "Li Sao", we can also get a glimpse of ancient myths and legends; and "She Ti Zhen was born in Meng Zuoxi, and only Geng Yinwu descended." , which is the data used to verify the ancient astronomical calendar.
"Nine Songs" was originally an ancient music song. According to legend, Xia Qi stole it from the sky. Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs", which was composed on the basis of folk songs for worshiping gods, adopted the names of ancient music songs and has eleven chapters. It preserves mythical stories about cloud gods, mountain gods, Xiangshui gods, river gods, sun gods, etc., which are precious materials for studying ancient folk customs and Chu culture.
"Tianwen" is a long poem. It raises more than 170 questions about the natural universe and social history, and preserves many myths, legends and ancient historical materials. For example, a series of questions raised about the legend of Gun and Yu's water control include the relationship between Gun and turtles, the differences between Yu and Gun's methods of water control, the fact that Yu had the help of Yinglong when he controlled the water, Yu's marriage to Tushan's daughter, etc. Details; the questions raised about the legend of Hou Yi also involve details such as Hou Yi shooting the sun, shooting the River Bo and marrying Luo, and being killed by Han Zhuo. There is a paucity of literature on the Qi, the founder of the Shang Dynasty, and the history from the Qi to Tang Dynasty. "Tianwen" reveals many important clues about this period of history, including the contents involving Qi, Wang Ji, Wang Hai, Wang Heng, Shangjiawei and other Yin people's ancestors and kings, which are particularly valuable.
First seen in "Historical Records? Biographies of Cruel Officials". Its original meaning refers to the words of Chu, and later it gradually became fixed in two meanings: one is the genre of poetry, and the other is the name of the collection of poems. In terms of poetry genre, it is a new poetry style created by poets represented by Qu Yuan in the late Warring States Period based on Chu folk songs. Judging from the name of the collection, it is a collection of poems in the "Chu Ci" style compiled by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty on the basis of his predecessors. It includes the works of Qu Yuan and Song Yu, the Chu people of the Warring States Period, as well as the works of Jia Yi, Huainan Xiaoshan, and Zhuang Ji of the Han Dynasty. , Dongfang Shuo, Wang Bao, Liu Xiang and other imitative works.
2. Chu Ci is a verse form created by the Chu people represented by Qu Yuan during the Warring States Period in China. The name Chu Ci was first seen in Sima Qian's "Historical Records: Biography of Curious Officials" in the early Western Han Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, Chu Ci was also called Ci or Ci Fu. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xiang compiled 16 works by Qu Yuan and Song Yu, as well as works by Huainan Xiaoshan, Dongfang Shuo, Wang Bao, Liu Xiang and others in the Han Dynasty that imitated Qu Yuan and Song Yu, and named it "Songs of Chu". The Songs of Chu then became the name of a collection of poems. Since Qu Yuan's "Li Sao" is the representative work of "Chu Ci", Chu Ci is also called Sao or Sao style.
Chu Ci was developed through processing and refinement on the basis of Chu folk songs, and has strong local characteristics. Due to differences in geography and language environment, the Chu State has had its unique local music since ancient times, which was called Nanfeng and Nanyin in ancient times. It also has its unique folk songs, such as "Chu People's Song" and "Yue Song" recorded in "Shuo Yuan". "Human Song" and "Canglang Song"; more importantly, the Chu State has a long history, and witchcraft is prevalent in Chu. Chu people entertain the gods with singing and dancing, which preserves a large number of myths. Poetry and music develop rapidly, making Chu folk songs full of The original religious atmosphere. All these influences make Chu Ci have the unique tone and phonology of Chu State, and at the same time, it has a profound romanticism color and a strong witchcraft culture color. It can be said that the emergence of Chu Ci is inseparable from the influence of local folk songs of Chu State and the cultural tradition of Chu State.
At the same time, Chu Ci is the product of the combination of Chu culture in the south and Central Plains culture in the north. After the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chu State, which had always been called Jingman, became increasingly powerful. In the process of striving to dominate the Central Plains and compete for hegemony among the princes, it had frequent contacts with northern countries, promoting extensive cultural exchanges between the north and the south. Chu State was also deeply influenced by the culture of the northern Central Plains. It is this convergence of northern and southern cultures that gave birth to great poets like Qu Yuan and colorful and great poems like "Chu Ci".
"Chu Ci" occupies an important position in the history of Chinese poetry. Its appearance broke the silence of two or three centuries after "The Book of Songs" and made it shine in the poetry world. Later generations also referred to "The Book of Songs" and "Chu Ci" as Feng and Sao. Feng refers to the style of the Fifteen Kingdoms, representing the "Book of Songs", which is full of realism; Sao refers to "Li Sao", representing "Chu Ci", which is full of romanticism. Feng and Sao became the two major schools of realism and romanticism in Chinese classical poetry.
The earliest extant annotated version of "Chu Ci" is "Chu Ci Zhangju" written by Wang Yi of the Eastern Han Dynasty. "Sikuquanshu General Catalog" says: "In the beginning, Liu Xiangpei collected Qu Yuan's "Li Sao", "Nine Songs", "Tian Wen", "Nine Chapters"... and each annotated it." But Liu Xiang compiled "Chu" The original 16 volumes of "Ci" have been lost. "Chapter of Chu Ci" is based on Liu Xiang's "Chu Ci". In addition to providing a relatively complete explanation of Chu Ci, it also provides relevant original information. On the basis of "Chapter and Sentences of Chu Ci", Hong Xingzu of the Southern Song Dynasty also wrote "Supplementary Notes to Chu Ci". After that, Zhu Xi in the Southern Song Dynasty wrote "Collected Commentary on the Songs of Chu", Wang Fuzhi in the early Qing Dynasty wrote "General Commentary on the Songs of Chu", Jiang Ji in the Qing Dynasty wrote "Shandai Pavilion Commentary on the Songs of Chu", and so on. Based on their own opinions, they did a lot of compilation, textual research, annotation, and commentary.