Qu Yuan (屈平) | 24 Histories

Overview

Qu Yuan was a Poet and Official.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Lingjun	靈均	Lingjun
Alternate name	Xiang exile	湘累

Life and dates

Death

Drowned himself in the river · Cause Political rejection
Directly stated · Book of Han 98, passage 18
Drowned though guiltless · Mode allusion
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 39, passage 68
drowned by clasping a stone 懷石自沈 · At Miluo River 汨羅
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 124

Attested activity

BC 340 to BC 278 BC 340-278
Strongly inferred · Book of Later Han 32, passage 148
BC 340 to BC 278 屈、賈無立德之譽
Strongly inferred · Book of Liang 30, passage 200
BC 340 to BC 278 屈原
Directly stated · Book of Han 98, passages 18, 20, 25, 236; Old History of the Five Dynasties 71, passage 34
BC 340 to BC 278 屈原以非辜沈身
Strongly inferred · Book of Later Han 39, passage 68
BC 278 屈原赴湘
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 90, passage 197
BC 328 to BC 299 楚懷王
Dated from the passage context · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passages 1-2

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BC 278 汨渚之哀
Directly stated · Book of Southern Qi 36, passage 144
BC 340 to BC 278 靈均逐楚
Strongly inferred · Book of Wei 91, passages 5, 224
BC 298 to BC 278 頃襄王
Dated from the passage context · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passages 67, 124

Key source chapters

Origins and identity

same clan as Chu royal house 楚之同姓
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 1

Career and standing

Left Minister 左徒
Held
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 2
Entered
Dismissed
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 29
Entered
Estranged
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passages 10, 44
Entered
Exile
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passages 57, 67
Held
Trusted by ruler
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 6

Places and affiliations

Chu
Relation Served
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 1
Polity Chu 楚 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 224

Works and attributed material

chapter on auspicious calamity 嘉禍之章
Relation Author
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 224
Embracing Sand 懷沙
Relation Author
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 80
Encountering Sorrow / Lisao 離騷
Relation Author
Directly stated · Book of Han 98, passage 18
Encountering Sorrow 離騷
Relation Author
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passages 11, 19
Heavenly Questions 天問
Relation Author
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 244
Lament for Ying 哀郢
Relation Author
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 244

Show 5 more source-backed claims

piece on the noble orange 嘉禍之章
Relation Author
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 5
Summoning the Soul 招魂
Relation Author
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 244
Rhapsody · Author
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passages 82-123
Speech · Speaker · With King Huai (懷王)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passages 44, 48
Speech · Speaker · With Fisherman (漁父)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passages 72, 77-78

Events and relationships

Advised against trip
Political · Remonstrant · With King Huai (懷王)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 48
Banished from Chu and wrote celebrated piece
Literary · Exile poet
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 5
Banished from Chu
Exile · Exile
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passage 224
Encountering Sorrow 離騷
Literary · Author · Composed
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 11
Drowned
Personal · Suicide · At Miluo 汨羅
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passage 124
Received a sacrificial text from Yan Yanzhi
Ritual · Commemorated deceased · With Yan Yanzhi (顏延之)
Directly stated · Book of Song 73, passages 25, 28

Assessments and attributes

Assessment literary gifts surpassed Sima Xiangru · Mode quoted-judgment Speaker Yang Xiong (揚雄)
Directly stated · Book of Han 98, passage 18
Assessment loyal and upright; brilliance could rival sun and moon · Mode historian-judgment Speaker Sima Qian (司馬遷)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 84, passages 27-28, 244
Assessment loyal, pure, and unjustly destroyed in a corrupt age · Mode quoted-document Source Person Id Yan Yanzhi (顏延之)
Directly stated · Book of Song 73, passages 29-31, 33-35, 37
Qu Yuan and Jia Yi have no reputation for establishing virtue 屈、賈無立德之譽
Assessment no reputation for establishing virtue · Mode historian-judgment Speaker Yao Cha (姚察)
Directly stated · Book of Liang 30, passage 200

Source notes

嘉禍 is probably a corruption of 嘉橘 (noble orange), citing Songs of Chu Ode to the Orange
Field work-title
Directly stated · Book of Wei 91, passages 224-225
Historicity historical
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 39, passage 68; Book of Wei 91, passages 14, 224

References in the histories

Search passages

History

40 passages

Book of Han, Chapter 88Volume 77: Gai, Zhuge, Liu, Zheng, Sun, Wujiang and He · 1 passage

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夫以四子之行，屈平之材，然猶不能自顯而被刑戮，豈不足以觀哉！ For men of such conduct and Qu Yuan's talent still could not display themselves and met execution—does it not suffice for reflection!

Book of Han, Chapter 90Volume 79: Feng Fengshi · 1 passage

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故伯奇放流，孟子宮刑，申生雉經，屈原赴湘，《小弁》之詩作，《離騷》之辭興。 So Boqi was driven out, Mengzi was castrated, Crown Prince Sheng hanged himself, Qu Yuan drowned—the "Little Boy" ode and "Li sao" rose from such pain.

Book of Han, Chapter 98Volume 87a: Yang Xiong 1 · 4 passages

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又怪屈原文過相如，至不容，作《離騷》，自投江而死，悲其文，讀之未嘗不流涕也。 He also marveled that Qu Yuan's gifts outshone even Xiangru's, yet the court would not tolerate him—so he wrote Encountering Sorrow and drowned himself in the river. Xiong mourned that work and wept whenever he read it.

乃作書，往往摭《離騷》文而反之，自岷山投諸江流以吊屈原，名曰《反離騷》； So he composed a piece that took phrases from Encountering Sorrow and turned their sense, intending to cast it into the river from Mount Min as an offering to Qu Yuan; he titled it Contrary Lisao.

淑周楚之豐烈兮，超既離乎皇波，因江潭而水往托兮，欽吊楚之湘累。 I summon the high renown of Zhou and Chu, I have left the emperor's tide behind; borne on the streams I offer this lament for Qu Yuan, the exile of the Xiang.

浮彭蠡，目有虞，方椎夜光之流離，剖明月之珠胎，鞭洛水之虙妃，餉屈原與彭胥。 They float across Lake Pengli and gaze toward Youyu; they hammer night-shining crystal, split the wombs of moon-bright pearls, whip Lady Fu of the Luo, and offer a feast to Qu Yuan, Peng Xian, and Wu Zixu.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 32Volume 28b: Biography of Feng Yan · 1 passage

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披綺季之麗服兮，揚屈原之靈芬。 I don the fair robes of Qiji and breathe Qu Yuan's haunting virtue.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 39Volume 34: Biography of Liang Tong · 1 passage

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既徂南土，歷江、湖，濟沅、湘，感悼子胥、屈原以非辜沈身，乃作《悼騷賦》，系玄石而沈之。 Southward he crossed the great rivers and grieved for Wu Zixu and Qu Yuan, who drowned though guiltless; he wrote the 'Mourning Sao' and sank it sealed to a stone.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 71Volume 71 Book of Later Tang 47: Biographies 23: Ma Yu, Si Kongting, Cao Tingyin, Xiao Xifu, Yao Zongzhi, Jia Fu, Ma Gao, Luo Guan, Chun Yuyan, Zhang Ge, Xu Ji, Zhou Xuanbao · 1 passage

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〈（《北夢瑣言》載其狀詞云：屈原哀郢，本非怨望之人； (According to the 《Beimeng Suoyan》, the memorial read: Qu Yuan grieving for Ying was no man nursing resentment;

Book of Liang, Chapter 30Volume 30: Pei Ziye; Gu Xie; Xu Chi; Bao Quan · 1 passage

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有行者多尚質樸，有文者少蹈規矩，故衛、石靡餘論可傳，屈、賈無立德之譽。 Those with conduct mostly esteem plain simplicity; those with letters seldom tread within rules. Therefore Wei and Shi have no remaining discourse worth handing down, while Qu Yuan and Jia Yi have no reputation for establishing virtue.

Book of Southern Qi, Chapter 36Volume 36 Biographies 17: Xie Chaozong, Liu Xiang · 1 passage

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故芬芳各性，不待汨渚之哀； Thus virtue gives off its own fragrance without borrowing Qu Yuan's lament by the Miluo;

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 84Biographies of Qu Yuan and Master Jia · 25 passages

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屈原者，名平，楚之同姓也。 Qu Yuan, whose given name was Ping, shared the royal surname of the state of Chu.

懷王使屈原造為憲令，屈平屬草槁未定。 King Huai charged Qu Yuan with drafting a new code of laws. Qu Ping had composed a rough draft but had not yet finalized it.