Contents
Main article: List of Chuci contentsThe Chu Ci consists of seventeen main sections, in standard order. Some commentary is also standard.
1. "Encountering Sorrow" ("Li Sao") is mainly is upon a theme of seemingly autobiographical material about the relationship between Qu Yuan and the leadership of the Chu kingdom. Often interpreted as a political allegory, other aspects of this rather long poem seem to refer to religious and mythological themes derived from the culture of the Chu area. Text (in Chinese): 離騷.
2. "Nine Songs" ("Jiu Ge"), despite the "Nine" in the title, actually includes eleven discrete parts or songs. These seem to represent some shamanistic dramatic practices of the Yangzi River valley area involving the invocation of divine beings and seeking their blessings by means of a process of courtship. Text (in Chinese): 九歌
3. "Heavenly Questions" ("Tian Wen"), also known as Questions to Heaven, addressed to Tian (or "Heaven"), consists of series of questions, 172 in all, in verse format. The series of questions asked involves Chinese mythology and ancient Chinese religious beliefs. The answers are not explicated, within the text of the "Heavenly Questions" itself. Text (in Chinese): 天問.
4. "Nine Pieces" ("Jiu Zhang") consists of nine pieces of poetry, one of which is the "Lament for Ying" ("Ai Ying"). Ying was the name of one of the traditional capital cities of Qu Yuan's homeland of Chu (eventually, Ying and Chu even became synonymous). However, both the city of Ying and the entire state of Chu itself experienced doom due to the expansion of the state of Qin, which ended up consolidating China at the expense of the other former independent states: including Qu Yuan's home state — hence the "Lament". "Jiu Zhang" includes a total of nine pieces. Text in Chinese: 九章.
5. "Far-off Journey" ("Yuan You") 遠遊
6. "Divination" "Bu Ju" 卜居
7. "The Fisherman" "Yu Fu" 漁父
8. "Nine Changes" 九辯.
9. "Summons of the Soul" "(Zhao Hun)" 招魂
10. "The Great Summons" 大招
11. "Sorrow for Troth Betrayed" 惜誓
12. "Summons for a Recluse" 招隱士
13. "Seven Remonstrances" 七諫
14. "Alas That My Lot Was Not Cast" 哀時命
15. "Nine Regrets" Consists of nine sections. 九懷
16. "Nine Laments" 九歎
17. "Nine Longings" 九思
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