Qu Yuan (c. 340 BC – 278 BC)[1][2][3] was a Chinese poet and aristocrat. They 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 Cianthropology (also called the 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6]
Hartman, Charles (1986). "Ch'ü Yüan 屈原". In Nienhauser, William H. Junior (ed.). The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Volume 1. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 352. ISBN0-253-32983-3.
Hawkes, David (1959), Ch'u Tz'u: The Songs of the South, an Ancient Chinese Anthology, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hinton, David (2008), Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology, New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, ISBN978-0-374-10536-5.
Kern, Martin (2010). "Early Chinese literature, Beginnings through Western Han". In Owen, Stephen (ed.). The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume 1: To 1375. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–115. ISBN978-0-521-11677-0.
Knechtges, David R. (2010). "Qu Yuan 屈原". In Knechtges, David R.; Chang, Taiping (eds.). Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part One. Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 4: China, volume 25/1. Leiden: Brill. pp. 745–749. doi:10.1163/9789047444664_002. ISBN978-90-04-19127-3.
Wen Yiduo (1956), "人民的詩人一屈原 [Rénmín de Shīrén—Qū Yuán, Qu Yuan: The People's Poet]", 《神話與詩》 [Shénhuà yú Shī, Mythology & Poetry], Guji Chubanshe. (in Chinese)
Sima Qian (1993) [c. 90s BCE]. Records of the Grand Historian. Translated by Watson, Burton (Rev. ed.). New York: Columbia Univ. Press. ISBN0-231-08164-2.