SOURCE: "Chu Yuan, Ancient China's Patriot-Poet," People's China, No. 11, June 1, 1953, pp. 12-7.

[In the following excerpt, Kuo Mo-jo provides a biographical sketch of Chu Yuan with historical background and credits him with a poetic imagination unrivaled in Chinese literature.]

I

Chu Yuan is a great Chinese poet who lived more than two thousand years ago. He was not simply a poet, but also a thinker and statesman.

Chu Yuan was born in 340 B.C. during the Warring States period (403 B.C.—221 B.C.). The twelve great states of the Spring-and-Autumn period (770 B.C.—403 B.C.) had now been reduced to seven, which were struggling among themselves trying to achieve the unity of China.

Of the seven states, Chin in the northwest was the most powerful, while Chu in the Yangtse River valley was the largest. The state of Chi in the Shantung peninsula, thanks to its proximity to the sea, had abundance of fish and salt and was the richest. Han, Chao and Wei, having come into being as a result of the partition of Tsin, were sometimes called "the three Tsin states," and occupied the central part of the Yellow River valley; they were smaller states, thickly populated, in the heart of ancient China. The state of Yen in the northeast had its boundary along the Liaotung peninsula and northern Korea, and was therefore relatively remote from the struggle.

Chu Yuan was a noble of Chu. He was born when the once powerful kingdom of Chu was declining. His failure to win the support of the corrupt king of Chu and the other nobles for his honest and progressive proposals made his life a tragic one.

At first he won the confidence of the king of Chu, and held the high post of "left minister," having constant access to the king, and helping to draft laws and determine foreign policy. In view of the danger threatening Chu from Chin, Chu Yuan proposed reforms in the government and an alliance with Chi to ensure the safety of the state. But the king of Chu was surrounded by self-seekers such as the councillor Tze Chiao (who held the highest position in the Chu government), the knight Chin Shang (Chu Yuan's political opponent), and the king's favourite, Queen Cheng Hsiu. Having accepted bribes from Chin's envoy, Chang Yi, they not only stopped King Huai from taking Chu Yuan's advice, but brought about the latter's estrangement from the king. As a result King Huai was tricked into going to Chin, where he died after three years' captivity.

King Huai's successor, King Chin Hsiang, was even more incompetent than his father. In the twenty-first year of his reign (278 B.C.), General Pai Chi of Chin led troops southward to storm the capital of Chu. The kingdom of Chu never recovered. Fifty-five years later it was finally overthrown.

Most of Chu Yuan's poems were written after his policy was rejected.

When the capital of Chu was sacked by Pai Chi, he wrote a poem of lament. He was then sixty-two. He had lived for more than twenty years in retirement and now, seeing no future for his country, on the fifth of the fifth month of the lunar calendar he drowned himself in the Milo River in Hunan.

II

Chu Yuan's life was a tragedy. As a political figure he was a failure, but as poet he achieved great success. The people sympathised with him. Not only the people of Chu, but the people of all China for two thousand years and more have sympathised with him. Every year on the fifth of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the day on which he is believed to have died, people throughout China have dragon-boat races to commemorate him. This ceremony may be considered a representation of how the people of Chu at that time recovered his body. On this day Chinese everywhere eat a special variety of dumpling, made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves, and steamed. And, according to tradition, some of these dumplings are thrown into the river to feed the dragons and serpents, so that they may not devour Chu Yuan's body. This tradition has spread to Korea, Japan, Viet-Nam and Malaya.

Chu Yuan attracted such great sympathy largely because of his own deep love for his motherland and the people. Although a noble of Chu, he sympathised deeply with the common people. Over two thousand years ago he wrote:

Long did I sigh, and wipe away my Tears,
To see my People bowed by Griefs and Fears.
—The Lament

And again:

The People's Sufferings move my Heart,
Our Land I cannot leave.
—Stray Thoughts

The people will grieve for one who has grieved for them. Chu Yuan's poetry shows great sincerity. And his life proves that he practised what he preached. He was banished from court for more than twenty years, during which he lived in retirement; yet he never left his motherland. So great was his love for his motherland and his people that he put up with disgrace and finally drowned himself rather than leave the kingdom of Chu. It is easy to understand how such a man must have won the deep sympathy of the people.

His passionate love for his people is also clearly seen in the form of his poetry. There are twenty-five poems attributed to Chu Yuan, most of which we may consider authentic. Some of these poems are odes dedicated to the gods. These were written in the prime of his life, when all was well with him. They are fresh, vigorous, musical and charming, like the soft breeze of spring. But the majority of his poems were written after his hopes had been dashed. These are filled with indignation, pathos, passion and grief, like the prelude to a storm, or like the storm itself.

His poetic forms were derived mainly from folk poetry, and the vocabulary used was that of the common people. He initiated a revolution in ancient Chinese poetry, and his influence has made itself felt on Chinese literature for the last two thousand years. The people love his poetry. Though he lived two thousand years ago, and his language differs considerably from that of today, when translated into modern Chinese or a foreign language it can still move us.

III

Chu Yuan's poetic imagination is unrivalled in Chinese literature. From his Li Sao (The Lament), the greatest of his poems, we can see that he felt all things in nature possess life and can be shaped to man's purpose. Wind, rain, thunder and lightning, clouds and moon, become his attendants and charioteers. Phoenix and dragon draw his chariot. He gallops to the sky and reaches heaven's gate, then climbs up the roof of the world and wanders to the uttermost parts of the earth. But he found no rest anywhere, and finally took his own life.

Although he liked to give free rein to his imagination to conjure up heaven and hell or various spirits, he did not reverence them. Heaven and hell alike appeared to him as places where the spirit could not dwell. In his poem Requiem he exhorts the soul not to go to heaven or hell, nor to the north, south, east or west, for nothing good was to be found there. His native place was best. In Li Sao (The Lament) he describes how he reached the gate of paradise and called the gatekeeper to open up, but the gatekeeper simply leaned against the door looking at him—probably unwilling to admit him. So finally he sighed and said: "Even in Heaven there are no good People."

His most extraordinary poem is a long one entitled Tien Wen (The Riddles). In this he asks questions regarding what existed before the universe, the creation of the heavenly bodies and the structure of the earth. He also asks about myths and legends and historical events. Over one hundred and seventy questions are raised, and none of them answered. These riddles give us some idea of the myths of ancient China, but many of them are unintelligible today because so many ancient legends have been lost.

Most noteworthy, in my opinion, are the questions regarding the structure of the heavenly bodies. Who built the sky? Where does it end? What supports the sky? Why the division into twelve Zodiac Signs? How are the sun, moon and stars held in place so that they do not fall? How many miles does the sun travel in one day? What makes the moon wax and wane? Where does the sun hide before dawn? These are the questions asked, and very rational questions they are too. From them we can see his concern with nature, and the richness of his imagination.

Chinese science in Chu Yuan's time had, in fact, reached great heights. In astronomy, calendar science and mathematics, great advances had been made, while logic was well developed. A southern philosopher named Huang Liao who lived shortly before Chu Yuan, once asked a northern scholar, Huei Shih, who was a well-known logician, why the heavenly bodies did not fall and what caused the wind and rain, thunder and lightning. And Huei Shih gave him answers. This shows that the intellectuals of the time were generally interested in problems concerning the structure of the universe.

Chu Yuan lived in the Golden Age of Chinese civilisation. His genius and his position made it easy for him to assimilate current thought and to develop in many directions. But his genius was pre-eminently poetic. His sincerity, imaginative power and brilliance, the wealth of imagery, lyrical qualities and diversity of forms of his poems make him an outstanding figure in the world of lyric poetry.

This poet who so loved his motherland and his people, who loved freedom and justice, will never die.