The name "Songs of the South" existed in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty and was edited by Liu Xiangnai. Wang Yi wrote chapters and sentences in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Qu Yuan and Song Yu in the Warring States Period, Huai Nan Zi Shan, Dong Fangshuo, Wang Bao and Liu Xiang in the Han Dynasty. Later, Wang Yi added his Jiu Si to Article 17. The book is mainly based on Qu Yuan's works, and the rest are also in the form of Qu Fu. Because it uses Chu's literary style, dialect rhyme, local products and so on, it has a strong local color, so it is named Chu Ci, which has a far-reaching influence on later poems.
Chu Ci experienced Qu Yuan's creation, imitation after Qu Yuan's submission, collection in early Han Dynasty and collection by Liu Xiang. This book should have been written between 26 BC and 6 BC. Liu Xiang's original book Chu Ci died early, and later generations can only trace back and guess the original appearance indirectly through Wang Yi's Chu Ci (the original book is gone) and Song Hongxingzu's Chu Ci Supplement (Chu Ci Supplement).
Songs of the South is of extraordinary significance to the whole cultural system of China, especially to literature. It created the poetic style of China's romantic literature, so later generations called this style "Chu Ci" and "Sao". Poetry, novel, prose and drama all exist to varying degrees.
The study of Chu Ci and its research history is now called "the study of Chu Ci". From the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, it flourished for a while and became a prominent scholar in the classical culture hall of modern China. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Chu Ci flowed into China and other countries with the cultural circles, and even into Europe after16th century. By the19th century, Chu Ci had aroused widespread concern in Europe and America, and a large number of translation and research works in various languages appeared. In the field of international sinology, Chuci has always been one of the hot spots of research.