Chuci

The Chuci (Ch :楚辞), the elegies or songs from Chu, are a collection of poems from the south of China. The Chuci regarded as the earliest complete written testimony to the shamanistic culture.

Origin and Structure

The anthology, as it exists today, was compiled by a scholar named Wang Yi in the 2nd century AD. The dating and authorship are unclear, Wang Yi itself refers to Liu Xiang ( 77-6 BC). The emergence of Chuci is to approximately 300 BC - 150 BC appreciated. The alleged author of the poems Li Sao and chants is Qu Yuan, who is mentioned by Sima Qian in the Han period in the history book Shiji, but nowadays you can not understand the authorship of the Chuci, and only the poem Li Sao is Qu yuan attributed. The state of Chu was a statesman of Ancient China, who had a distinct culture that shaped the Chuci.

The Chuci are divided into different sections:

• The poem Li Sao (such as " way of despair " ), a political poem,
• The Jiu Ge ( 9 songs ) that are shamanistic origin,
• Tian Wen ( Heavenly Questions), mystery mythological themes,
• Jiu Zhang ( nine observations) imitations of the Li Sao,
• 13 poems describe the mystical journeys and political or national tragedies in imitation of Li Sao, or Jiu Ge.

Content

Song style and Sao - style

Most of the poems are written in one of two styles, the song style and the Sao style. The Sao - style refers to the poem Li Sao. In this poem it comes to the action of a minister, who was disowned by his king. It represents a catalog of the virtues of the subject of the poem in symbolic language, which embarks on a long journey, because it is disappointed by his master. On this trip the subject after a goddess seeks is his partner, but no matter where he goes to the gates of heaven or in the mythical West, the lyrical subject learns nothing but disappointment and frustration. The poem ends with despair and disappointment as the subject of the heights of the sky looking down sees his old home.

All poems of the Chuci that are written in the style of Sao share some characteristics. They are all written in the first person, they all speak about the purity and integrity of the lyrical subject in the face of evil and corrupt world, all tell of a journey in order to escape this evil world. The action in the face of a corrupt world is highly formalized. The trip is either a real journey in a scenery of rivers and mountains, or it is a journey into an imaginary, fairy world, which is populated by mythical creatures. In all poems is repeated disappointment and anger of the lyrical subject again and again. The Sao poet should not be an ordinary neurotic, but a kind of magician who feels that he belongs in a supernatural world that is cleaner than the earthly world. The frustration of Sao poets is that of an immortal spirit who is forced to live in the human world.

The poems of Chuci should be shamanistic origin and self-pitying tone of Sao poems probably comes from the songs of the shamans of fickle gods.

The metric of the Sao - style poem xxxuxx xi is said to have more suitable for the recitation of narrative poems as for the vocals. The song style of Chuci poems should have, however, is suitable for the sung interpretation. A verse consists of two segments, which are separated by Xi, a particle of no importance. The particles Xi in each verse is a feature of all of the poems Chuci. They could be translated as "Oh ".

During the Sao- style poems are more political and secular content, the song -style poems are more influenced by shamanistic. In Chu, a state in southern China, shamans seem to have played an important role.

In the nine songs of the shamans Chuci to turn to the gods as in lover and showing mainly concern and disappointment as in Li Sao. What is striking is the catalog -like expression of sorrow and melancholy. That the poems shamanistic origin, is partly because to recognize that a formula-like liturgical language is used, as it is still to be found in the Han period in ritual books. The poems do not tell, but count on in terms of a type name magic. That this is a religious origin, is also evident that there are thematic links with the practices of the later Daoism, especially the Shangqing such ecstatic flights, mystical wanderings of the soul or cosmic fluids as food.

Tristia and Itineraria

In Chuci one can apart from the style distinguish two main categories of poems, Tristia and the Itineraria, which can be found later in the fu poems of the Han period.

Tristia press the concerns of the lyrical subject perform, even in the face of worldly circumstances, eg in the face of bad government.

Itineraria describe a journey of lyrical subject, occasionally real travel, but more often imaginary journeys that lead to supernatural realms.

Perhaps the plaintive tone of Tristia of the shamanic chants embossed on fickle and elusive deities comes from, but overall the Tristia are marked secular, which, for example, at the mention of historical references is clear.

The ritual journey that is made for the purpose of power acquisition or demonstration of power, appears in the later Chinese tradition in a variety of references, it is a topos of the later Fu seal of the Han period, the journey is always magical, but they may be real or be imaginary and the traveler is a mystic, a magician or a king. The journey leads through a balanced cosmos, prevail in the different powers and that can be influenced through the appropriate and proper ritual. The symmetrical cosmos is regarded as circular ( see mandala) and a complete circumnavigation leads to supernatural power, the traveler becomes a master of the universe.

But may have also influenced the shamanistic poems a political background. One could also interpret these poems allegorically, in the sense that the shaman is a virtuous minister, who was disowned by his king or prince. The Confucian scholars have the poems any event be interpreted in this sense, and there are indications from later dynasties of that interpretation. In the Song period, there were, for example, the so-called Palace poetry, art poems were mostly written by men, and in which a concubine or court lady about her lost love, isolation, age, etc. laments.

The Chuci are next to the Shi Jing, the Book of Songs, China's oldest seals.