Qu Yuan

Qu Yuan
Portrait of Qu Yuan by Chen Hongshou (17th century)
Born	c. 340 BC State of Chu, in modern Hubei, China
Died	278 BC Miluo River
Occupation	Poet, government minister

Qu Yuan
"Qu Yuan" in ancient seal script (top) and regular (bottom) Chinese characters
Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Qū Yuán Gwoyeu Romatzyh Chiu Yuan Wade–Giles Ch'ü1 Yüan2 IPA [tɕʰý y̯ɛ̌n] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Wāt Yùhn Jyutping Wat1 Jyun4 Southern Min Tâi-lô Khut Guân Old Chinese Baxter-Sagart *kʰut N-ɢʷar

Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BC) was a Chinese poet and minister who lived during the Warring States period of ancient China. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to classical poetry and verses, especially through the poems of the Chu Ci anthology (also known as The Songs of the South or Songs of Chu): a volume of poems attributed to or considered to be inspired by his verse writing. Together with the Shi Jing, the Chu Ci is one of the two great collections of ancient Chinese verse. He is also remembered as the supposed origin of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Historical details about Qu Yuan's life are few, and his authorship of many Chu Ci poems have been questioned at length. However, he is widely accepted to have written Li Sao, the most well-known of the Chu Ci poems. The first known reference to Qu Yuan appears in a poem written in 174 BC by Jia Yi, an official from Luoyang who was slandered by jealous officials and banished to Changsha by Emperor Wen of Han. While traveling, he wrote a poem describing the similar fate of a previous "Qu Yuan." Eighty years later, the first known biography of Qu Yuan's life appeared in Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, though it contains a number of contradictory details.

Sima Qian's biography of Qu Yuan in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), though circumstantial and probably influenced greatly by Sima's own identification with Qu, is the only source of information on Qu's life. Sima wrote that Qu was a member of the Chu royal clan and served as an official under King Huai of Chu (reigned 328–299 BC).