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Qu Yuan (Simplified Chinese: 屈原; Traditional Chinese: 屈原; Pinyin: qū yúan) (c.340 BC - 278 BC) was a Chinese patriotic poet from southern Chu during the Warring States Period. His works are mostly found in an anthology of poetry known as Chu Ci. His death is commemorated on Duan Wu or Tuen Ng Festival (端午节/端午節), commonly known as the Dragon Boat Festival.
Biography
| Qu Yuan's Names | |
|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese: | 屈原 |
| Traditional Chinese: | 屈原 |
| Pinyin: | Qū Yuán |
| Family name: | Qu |
| Traditional Chinese: | 屈 |
| Simplified Chinese: | 屈 |
| Given name: | Ping |
| Traditional Chinese: | 平 |
| Simplified Chinese: | 平 |
| Courtesy name (字): | Yuan |
| Traditional Chinese: | 原 |
| Simplified Chinese: | 原 |
| Alias Given name (自名): | Zhengze |
| Traditional Chinese: | 正則 |
| Simplified Chinese: | 正则 |
| Alias Courtesy name (别字): | Lingjun |
| Traditional Chinese: | 霛均 |
| Simplified Chinese: | 灵均 |
According to legend, his anxiety brought him to an increasingly troubled state of health; during his depression, he would often take walks near a certain well, during which he would look upon his reflection in the water and be his own person, thin and gaunt. In the legend, this well became known as the "Face Reflection Well." Today on a hillside in Xiangluping in Hubei province's Zigui, there is a well which is considered to be the original well from the time of Qu Yuan.
In 278 BC, learning of the capture of his country's capital, Ying, by General Bai Qi of the state of Qin, Qu Yuan is said to have written the lengthy poem of lamentation called "Lament for Ying" and later to have waded into the Miluo river in today's Hunan Province holding a great rock in order to commit ritual suicide as a form of protest against the corruption of the era.
The origin of the Duanwu Festival
Local people, learning of his suicide, rushed out in their fishing boats to the middle of the river and desperately tried to save him, but were unsuccessful. In order to keep fish and evil spirits away from his body, they beat drums and splashed the water with their paddles. They threw rice into the water as a food offering to Qu Yuan and to distract the fish away from his body. However, late one night, the spirit of Qu Yuan appeared before his friends and told them that the rice meant for him was being intercepted by a huge river dragon. He asked his friends to wrap their rice into three-cornered silk packages to ward off the dragon. These packages became a traditional food known as zongzi, although the lumps of rice are now wrapped in bamboo leaves instead of silk. The act of racing to search for his body in boats gradually became the cultural tradition of dragon boat racing, which is held on the anniversary of his death every year.
Today, people still eat rice dumplings and participate in dragon boat races to commemorate Qu Yuan's sacrifice on the Duan Wu festival, the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
Reputation
Qu Yuan is generally recognized as the first great Chinese poet with record. He initiated the style of Sao, which is named after his work Li Sao, in which he abandoned the classic four-character verses used in poems of Shi Jing and adopted verses with varying lengths, which gives the poem more rhythm and latitude in expression. Qu Yuan is also regarded as one of the most prominent figures of Romanticism in Chinese literature, and his masterpieces influenced some of the greatest Romanticist poets in Tang Dynasty such as Li Bai and Du Fu.
Other than his literary influence, Qu Yuan is also held as the earliest patriotic poet in China history. His political idealism and unbendable patriotism have served as the model for Chinese intellectuals until today.
Works
Scholars have debated the authenticity of several of Qu Yuan's works since the Western Han dynasty (202 BCE - 9). The most authoritative historical record, Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji) mentions five of Qu Yuan's works: According to Wang Yi of the Eastern Han dynasty (ca. 25 CE - 220 CE), a total of 25 works can be attributed to Qu Yuan:
- Li Sao
- Jiu Ge (consisting of 11 pieces)
- Tian Wen
- Jiu Zhang (consisting of 9 pieces)
- Yuan You
- Pu Ju
- Yu Fu
External links
- "Qu Yuan {Chu Yuan}, the great poet"
- "Rice Dumpling Recipe - What they used to feed the fish"
- "The Dragon Boat Festival" (article reproduced from Volume 1, number 2 of the newsletter of Families with Children from China of the San Francisco Bay Area)
278 BC deaths | Chinese poets | Guqin | Chinese people in history
"Qu Yuan"