Li Sao, "Li Sao" is the representative work of Qu Yuan in the Warring States Period, and it is also the representative work of "Songs of the South". Li Sao is the most influential work in Chu Ci, which was written during the exile of Qu Yuan to Chu Huaiwang. Regarding the meaning of the word Li Sao, some people think that it is worrying, while others interpret it as not worrying. Li Sao, with more than 370 sentences and nearly 2,500 words, is the longest lyric poem in ancient China. In this romantic poem, Qu Yuan expressed his sadness, pain and indignation at being killed from his life experience, moral quality and ideal. Li Sao narrates Qu Yuan's lofty patriotism, shows Qu Yuan's unremitting struggle determination all his life, reflects the sharp struggle of the ruling class of Chu, exposes the dark reality and political crisis of Chu, and expresses Qu Yuan's spirit of "nine deaths without regret" for the country and the people. Qu Yuan's confession in Li Sao that "the road is long, but it is Xiu Yuan, so I will go up and down to seek" has become a famous sentence that inspires patriots in later generations to make unremitting efforts. In Li Sao, Qu Yuan insisted on the ideal of American politics and the spirit of fighting evil forces, and was regarded as a spiritual model by later scholars. Li Sao is deeply influenced by the cultural tradition of Chu witches. Ancient myths and legends are used in the poem, and through imagination and association, a magnificent and peculiar fantasy world is formed, and through wandering in the fantasy world, the passionate pursuit of ideals is expressed. Li Sao is a highly artistic lyric masterpiece with a strong romantic flavor, which laid the cornerstone of the romantic tradition in China's poetry history and was regarded as the source of romanticism by later generations.

Zhan Antai: Qu Yuan and Li Sao (Guangzhou: Jinan University Press, 2002).