The Book of Songs and the Chu Ci

Author: Chu Binjie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-11-01
Features: This book is one of the teaching materials for the reform and open education pilot program of the Ministry of Education. Chinese literature has a long history and possesses unique national forms, aesthetic ideals, and development paths. Poetry is one of the earliest artistic forms to emerge in Chinese literature and is also the genre that has been most fully developed. The Shijing (Classic of Poetry) is the earliest collection of poems, comprising 305 works from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn period over nearly five centuries. In the southern Chu region, "extraordinary literature flourished," giving rise to the great poet Qu Yuan and the new poetic form he created, the Chuci. They represent the splendid achievements of Northern Central Plains culture and Southern Chu culture during the pre-Qin period. Each, with its own ideology, outstanding artistic achievements, and distinct characteristics, has become one of the two great models and flags of classical Chinese poetry.