Chu Ci - History

History

Chu Ci was named after a form of poetry that originated in the State of Chu, the southernmost area settled by Chinese prior to the Qin Dynasty. Chu was known for its unique blend of culture from the Chinese heartland with other cultures from that of the south. A Chinese form (or forms) of shamanism was prominent in Chu, and a large number of the Chu Ci describe "spirit journeys", with extensive references to fragrant plants and various spirits, encountered in various exotic locations, such as the mythological Mount Kunlun.

The collection of poems by Qu Yuan and Song Yu included in Chu Ci, as well as works by other Chu poets, were already popular during the Western Han Dynasty. The Book of Han noted 106 Chu poets with 1,318 compositions. Many established Han poets also imitated the style of chu ci and produced their fair share of notable poems. So, although the term Chu Ci can generically refer to the formal style of this type of verse (and other or later chu ci style verses were written in this style), Wang Yi's selection of specific verses in what is know commonly known as the Chu Ci anthology has remained as the popular standard since his publication of it, in the Han Dynasty.

During the reign of Emperor Cheng, Liu Xiang apparently arranged and compiled the poems of Qu Yuan and Song Yu (working probably from an earlier compilation by Liu An), as well as those of Han poets including Wang Bao (王褒), Jia Yi (賈誼), Yan Ji (嚴忌) and Liu Xiang himself, into the Chu Ci anthology largely as it is known today. Wang Yi made an extensive commentary on the Chu Ci, as well as appending his own "Nine Longings", as the seventeenth and final section. The Chu Ci never became a canonical work, as did the Shi jing: as David Hawkes puts it, "he Chu Ci poems, however popular, belonged to no canon, dealt in matters that were outlandish and unorthodox, and originated outside of the area of sanctified Western Zhou tradition." The order in which the sections of the Chu Ci are currently generally arranged was established through editorial re-arrangement during or following the tenth or eleventh century.