Qu Yuan

Qu Yuan ( – 278 BC). was a Chinese poet and aristocrat. He lived in the State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and work in classical poetry and verses. He wrote Chu Ci anthropology (also called The Songs of the South or Songs of Chu). Chu Ci and Shi Jing are usually called some of the greatest Chinese verses. He is also remembered because he may have been connected to the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival.

There are not many historical details about Qu Yuan's. Historians are not entirely sure if he wrote many of the Chu Ci. However, he is widely thought to have written "The Lament," a Chu Ci poem. The first mention to Qu Yuan is in a poem written in 174 BC by Jia Yi. Jia Yi was an official from Luoyang. He was slandered by other officials and was sent to Changsha by Emperor Wen of Han. While traveling, he wrote a poem about how "Qu Yuan" had something similar happen to him.Quoted in Ban Gu's Book of Han biography of Jia Yi 《漢書·賈誼傳》, also appears in Wenxuan, "Diào Qū Yuán fù" 弔屈原賦. Eighty years later, the first known biography of Qu Yuan's life was in Han dynasty historian Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. However, these records have some contradictions about his details.

Related pages
Dragon Boat Festival
Tianwen-1

References
Citations

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Further reading

Other websites

"Qu Yuan (Chu Yuan), the great poet"
"This article has photos of Qu Yuan's hometown before it was submerged by the dams project"
"The Dragon Boat Festival" (article copied from Volume 1, number 2 of the newsletter of Families with Children from China of the San Francisco Bay Area)

Category:340s BC births
Category:278 BC deaths
Category:Suicides by drowning
Category:Chinese poets
Category:Chinese gods and goddesses
Category:3rd-century BC Chinese people
Category:4th-century BC Chinese people