Qu Yuan and the King of Chu belong to the same clan. However, when Qu Yuan was young, his family background declined and his blood relationship with the King of Chu became relatively distant, so at first Qu Yuan only served as the Minister of Culture in Chu Huaiwang.
Because Qu Yuan is brilliant, eloquent, and more importantly, he is idealistic, far-sighted and very concerned about world affairs. In about 3 18 BC, that is, eleven years, Qu Yuan rose from a civil servant to Zuo Situ, and from an ordinary official to a senior leader of Chu State. Qu Yuan was 22 years old this year.
In diplomacy, Qu Yuan advocated that Chu should adopt the policy of "uniting the vertical", that is, first form a military alliance with Qi, and then unite Yan, Han, Zhao and Wei to fight together.
Chu Huaiwang initially adopted Qu Yuan's suggestion. Although the six-nation alliance did not defeat Qin militarily, it gave A Qin a great deterrent and improved the status of Chu.
In the internal affairs, Qu Yuan advocated expanding laws, promoting talents and empowering people, and carrying out reforms. Qu Yuan's reform was strongly opposed by the old nobles because it violated their interests.
These old nobles, led by Ling Zijiao and Shangguan Doctor Jin Shang, joined forces to crowd out Qu Yuan, while Zheng Xiu supported them.
These people advocated pro-Qin in diplomacy and had long been dissatisfied with Qu Yuan's policy of uniting with and resisting Qin. At the same time, they saw Qu Yuan trying to enforce laws for fear of damaging his wealth, so they spoke ill of Qu Yuan in front of Chu Huaiwang. Chu Huaiwang, who has always been self-righteous, listened to slanders and soon left Qu Yuan in the cold. In 3 13 BC, Qu Yuan was demoted to doctor San Lv.
After Qu Yuan was alienated by Chu Huaiwang, the pro-Qin faction gained the upper hand in Chu. In 304 BC, the State of Chu and the State of Qin entered into an alliance of yellow thorns, and later they became husband and wife. Obviously, the State of Chu has fully supported the State of Qin.
In this process, Qu Yuan strongly opposed the policy of abandoning Qi Lian Qin, but his persuasion only made Chu Huaiwang more disgusted and alienated from him. In this case, Qu Yuan was exiled, left Chu and was forced to go to northern Han (now Yunxian and Xiangfan in Hubei).
In the Northern Han Dynasty, Qu Yuan completed one of his masterpieces, Li Sao. Li Sao is a long lyric poem with 373 sentences and nearly 2500 words. A large number of metaphors and myths are used in poetry, which shows a positive romantic spirit and has a far-reaching impact on later generations.
Around 297 BC, Qu Yuan returned to Du Ying.
Being placed under house arrest by the State of Qin, the Chu royal family established a new king, called Xiang Wang. The alternation of old and new monarchs did not change Qu Yuan's fate. For Qu Yuan who died for his country, Xiang Wang not only did not reuse it, but once again expelled it from the capital and exiled it to Jiangnan.
Jiangnan here includes southern Hubei Province and northern Hunan Province. Most of them were underdeveloped areas at that time. Qu Yuan lived a life of poverty and illness here, and wrote a magnificent and peculiar poem "Tian Wen".
Years of exile have greatly damaged Qu Yuan's health. The most painful thing for Qu Yuan is that the king of Chu has no choice, the national disaster is imminent, and the people are living in dire straits.
Although Qu Yuan used poetry to inspire himself and the people, he could not see the possibility of change. The land of Chu is being occupied one by one, and he can't return to the capital. He often lingers by the Yuan River, thinking about how to end the rest of his life.
One day in the early summer of 278 BC, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River in the northeast of Changsha, died for his country, and practiced his oath by death.
Legend has it that local people rowed boats and threw zongzi into the water for fear that fish and shrimp would invade Qu Yuan's body. Legend has it that Qu Yuan threw himself into the river on May 5th in the summer calendar. Therefore, on this day every year, people will commemorate this great patriotic poet in the form of dumplings and dragon boat races.
In 223 BC, Chu was finally destroyed by Qin, and what Qu Yuan was most worried about before his death still happened. However, Qu Yuan's patriotic thought and his immortal poems have been passed down to this day and become the cultural treasures of the Chinese nation. Qu Yuan was named as one of the "Top Ten Cultural Celebrities in the World" by the United Nations.
Li Sao: Qu Yuan's masterpiece is an autobiographical lyric poem. The whole poem has more than 370 sentences and nearly 2500 words.
There are two interpretations of Li Sao, one is suffering, and the other is sadness of parting. The whole poem is roughly divided into two parts. The first part, from the beginning to "I can punish my heart", first describes my family life, thinking that I was born in a famous family and was born in a beautiful day, so I have "inner beauty".
He diligently strives for self-cultivation, hoping to assist the king, prosper the country and realize the ideal of "American politics". But because of the slander of "party member" and the king's vacillation, he was wronged. Under the sharp conflict between ideal and reality, Qu Yuan said that "although he has not changed his body, there is still room for punishment", which showed his unswerving sentiment. The second half is wonderful. After stating his resentment against Zhong Hua (Shun), Qu Yuan began to "float and sink" and "beg for women", but these actions all ended in failure. In the last flight, I can't miss it any more, because I am attached to my motherland.
Jiuge: It is also an important work in Songs of the South, and it is a song dedicated to the gods, with a total of 1 1. Emperor Taiyi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty worships the supreme godless, the monarch in the cloud worships the cloud god Honglong (also known as Honglong), the Xiang Jun and Mrs Xiang both worship the water god of Xiang, the advocate god of longevity, Shao Siming worships the advocate god, the sun god and Hebo worships the river god. Generally speaking, Nine Songs mainly describes love, but it also expresses the praise and devotion to the gods, and also describes the bravery and tragic of the fallen soldiers.
Nine Chapters is the general name of a group of lyric poems written by Qu Yuan, including nine poems, such as Xi Shi, He Ye, Ai, Si, Huai Sha, Si Mei, Xi Past, Ode to an Orange and Regret for the Past. The content is basically similar to Li Sao, which mainly describes his extraordinary life experience, noble and independent personality, worries about the fate of the country and his experience of being rejected, and expresses his grief and indignation.
Tian Wen: It is a peculiar poem in Songs of the South. The so-called "heavenly question" is to list a series of incomprehensible phenomena in history and nature, ask questions to the sky, and explore the truth of the change and development of everything in the universe. This poem raises a total of 172 questions. The general order is to ask the formation of heaven and earth first, then the rise and fall of personnel, and finally it comes down to the real politics of Chu, which shows Qu Yuan's anxiety, disappointment and grief for the country and his tireless spirit of seeking.