Qu Yuan (c. 340-278 BC): Poet of Chu and the Dragon Boat Story

Qu Yuan was a minister and poet of the Chinese state of Chu who lived c. 340–278 BC, during the Warring States period. Dismissed and exiled after court intrigues, he is said to have drowned himself in the Miluo River as Chu was overrun by Qin. His poems, above all the Li Sao, founded a new tradition of Chinese poetry, and he is remembered every year at the Dragon Boat Festival.

Background: the state of Chu

Chu was the largest of the Warring States, covering much of the middle Yangtze region in modern Hubei, Hunan and beyond. It had its own culture, with rich traditions of shamanism, music and lacquer art, and northern Chinese states sometimes looked on it as semi-foreign. Excavated Chu tombs have yielded painted lacquerware, silk paintings, musical instruments and bamboo-slip texts that show how distinctive and sophisticated this southern culture was.

By the late 4th century BC the main rivalry among the states was between Qin in the west and a shifting group of eastern states. Chu’s rulers had to choose between allying with Qi in the east against Qin or making peace with Qin. Qu Yuan was firmly on the side of resisting Qin.

Life and career

Qu Yuan belonged to a branch of the Chu royal clan. His traditional birthplace is Zigui in western Hubei, and his dates are approximate. Almost all we know of his life comes from the biography written by Sima Qian around 100 BC.

Under King Huai of Chu (reigned 328–299 BC) he rose to the office of zuotu, a senior adviser who drafted decrees and received foreign envoys. According to Sima Qian, a jealous rival accused him of boasting that every law was his own work, and the king dismissed him from his post.

Qin then used diplomacy to split Chu from Qi. Its envoy Zhang Yi promised Chu 600 li of territory if it broke with Qi; once the alliance was broken, Qin offered only six li. Chu went to war in anger and suffered heavy defeats. In 299 BC King Huai accepted an invitation to meet the king of Qin, against Qu Yuan’s advice. He was detained and died in Qin in 296 BC.

Exile and death

Under the next ruler, King Qingxiang (reigned 298–263 BC), Qu Yuan’s enemies again prevailed and he was banished south of the Yangtze. Sima Qian describes him wandering by the rivers with dishevelled hair, gaunt and composing poems of grief.

In 278 BC the Qin general Bai Qi captured Ying, the Chu capital. Qu Yuan is traditionally said to have drowned himself in the Miluo River, in modern Hunan, around this time, clasping a stone. The poem Huai Sha, “Embracing Sand”, is traditionally taken as his last work. The exact year of his death is not certain, and some scholars place it a little earlier. Chu moved its capital east and survived for another half-century, until Qin conquered it in 223 BC on the way to the unification of China.

The poems of Chu

Qu Yuan is regarded as the first major Chinese poet known by name. His works are collected in the Chu Ci, or “Songs of Chu”, an anthology assembled in the Han dynasty and edited with a commentary by Wang Yi in the 2nd century AD. The anthology also contains poems by later writers in his style.

The most important work attributed to him is the Li Sao, often translated as “Encountering Sorrow”. At around 370 lines it is the longest poem of early China. Its speaker, a man of noble descent, describes how he has been slandered and rejected by his lord, then travels through the heavens in a chariot drawn by dragons, seeking a worthy partner, before deciding to follow the example of ancient worthies who died for their principles.

The poem is rich in symbolism. The speaker adorns himself with orchids, angelica and other fragrant plants, while weeds and foul-smelling herbs stand for the flatterers around the king. Wang Yi’s commentary read these images as an allegory of a loyal minister and his ruler, and that reading shaped how the poem was understood for two thousand years.

Other works traditionally linked to him include the Jiu Ge (Nine Songs), hymns to gods probably based on Chu religious rites, and the Tian Wen (Heavenly Questions), a series of more than 170 questions about the universe, myth and history. Compared with the earlier Book of Songs of northern China, these poems use longer, freer lines and vivid images of spirits, fragrant plants and celestial journeys.

The Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu, falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the traditional date of Qu Yuan’s death. Legend says that the people who loved him rowed out to search for his body, beating drums to scare away fish and dragons, and threw rice into the river to feed the fish so they would leave his body alone. These actions became the boat races and the custom of eating zongzi, rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves.

Historians note that midsummer boat races and rituals to ward off disease almost certainly existed before Qu Yuan, and other regions linked the day to other figures, such as Wu Zixu in the old state of Wu. Writers of the 5th and 6th centuries AD connected the races and zongzi to Qu Yuan, and his story became the dominant explanation.

Many customs of the day have little to do with Qu Yuan. People traditionally hang mugwort and calamus over their doors, tie five-coloured silk threads on children’s wrists and, in some regions, drink realgar wine. These practices reflect old beliefs that the fifth month was an unhealthy, dangerous time when evil influences had to be driven away. In 2009 the Dragon Boat Festival of China was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Legacy

For later Chinese scholars Qu Yuan became the model of the loyal official who speaks the truth and is rejected by a foolish ruler. Poets of the Han dynasty, such as Jia Yi, wrote laments in his honour, and many later writers who fell from favour compared themselves to him.

In the 20th century he was celebrated as a patriotic poet. Some scholars in the early 20th century questioned whether Qu Yuan existed or wrote the poems credited to him. Most specialists now accept him as a historical figure, while debating which poems are really his.

Timeline

• c. 340 BC: Traditional date of Qu Yuan’s birth.
• 328 BC: King Huai becomes ruler of Chu; Qu Yuan later rises to high office.
• c. 313 BC: Qin’s envoy Zhang Yi persuades Chu to break with Qi.
• 299 BC: King Huai is detained in Qin; he dies there in 296 BC.
• 298 BC: King Qingxiang succeeds; Qu Yuan is later exiled south.
• 278 BC: Qin’s general Bai Qi takes the Chu capital, Ying; Qu Yuan drowns in the Miluo River.
• 2009: The Dragon Boat Festival is inscribed by UNESCO.

Why it matters

Qu Yuan created a new voice in Chinese literature, personal, passionate and full of myth. Through the Dragon Boat Festival his story is still retold each year by millions of people in China and Chinese communities around the world.