Songs of Chu
Including seventeen prosaisms of the poets of Chu state, such as Qu Yuan, and Song Yu, and the literators of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), Chuci (Songs of Chu) is the compiled literature of the Chu state during the Warring States Period (475-221). Most of the works were from Qu Yuan, such as Lisao (The Poem on Departure), Tianwen (Ask Heaven), Jiuge (Nine Songs), which contain many fairy tales and much historical information, and is of great value for academic reference.
Qu Yuan (c. 475-221BC) was slandered by Zilan, the son of King Huai of the Chu state, and was dismissed, ostracized afterward, because he proposed the reformation, pursued the nomocracy, and appointed virtuous and talented persons. At last he made suicide in the Miluo River with desperation.
Lisao (The Poem on Departure), a great political lyric, is the representative work of Qu Yuan, which demonstrates his advanced idea.Qu Yuan often expressed his feelings and summarized the knowledge of experience in his description of history.
It is said that Qi of the Xia Dynasty (21st century - 17th century) stole Jiuge (Nine Songs), an ancient song, from the heaven. In fact Jiuge was produced by Qu Yuan, which was based on the folk songs used in offering sacrifices to god. As invaluable historical materials about ancient folk-custom and the Chu culture, it was named after the ancient song, containing eleven chapters in all, and kept many fairy tales about the cloud god, the mountain god, the Xiangshui River god, the river god, and the sun god.
There are more than 170 questions on nature and society in the long poem Tianwen (Ask the Heaven), which also contains many fairy tales and much historical information. The ancient literature materials are very rare, such as the water-control story of Gun and Yu, the story of Houyi, Xie (the primogenitor of Shang, a name of an ancient kingdom), and the history from Xie to Tang of the Shang Dynasty (17th century - 11th century), however, Tianwen offers much especially valuable hints in this respect.
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