The Poems of the Chu Kingdom, traditions and virtue of China
The Fifth of May in Chinese lunar calendar is the Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu Jie 端午節), a day in memory of the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan (屈原, circa 334 BC – 278BC). Over two thousand years, the Dragon Boat Festival remains a very important festival in China and is massively popular among Chinese. The Dragon Boat Festival is the first traditional Chinese festival named UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage after it was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.

The magnum opus of Qu Yuan, The Poems of the Chu Kingdom (Chu-Ci 楚辭) reflects the influence of traditional Chinese aesthetics and virtues. The name of Qu Yan itself is already reflecting a good will from traditional Chinese values. In The Poems of the Chu Kingdom - encountering sorrow (Li-Sao 離騷, the English title was adopted from Stephen Owen’s translation in 1996), the story of naming of Qu Yuan is as follows: “He scanned and delved into my first measure, from the portents my sire gave these noble names: The name that he gave me was Upright Standard; And my title of honor was Godly Poise.” The father of Qu Yuan, Bo-yong (伯庸), gave the name “Zheng-ze (正則, the Upright Standard) and Ling Jun (靈均, a Godly Poise)”. The Chinese character “Zheng” (正) means fairness and integrity, “ze” (則) means law and rules, the term “Jun” (均) is echoing the Chinese “Zheng” (正) , which also has the connotations of equality and righteous.
Other than these two other-names of Qu Yuan (Zheng ze 正則, and Ling Jun 靈均), Qu Yuan is also called “Ping” (平, at the same time means “a plain”, “equal”, and “harmony”). Li Bai (李白 701-762, a great Chinese Poet in Tang Dynasty) wrote, “Qu Ping’s Poem is as eternal as the sun and the moon”. Here “Ping” means “equal and fair”. The annotations of Qu Yuan’s name by Song Dynasty Philosopher Zhu-Xi (朱熹 1130-1200) also suggested that the meaning of character Yuan (原) in Qu Yuan’s name was referred to the plain. His other name, Ping (平), had similar connotation. In this sense, the four names of Qu-Yuan: Yuan, Ping, Zheng-ze, Ling-Jun, are all associated with each other and bear the connotation of following the righteous way. This is exactly Qu Yuan’s own motto reflected from Qu Yuan’s life story. In Qu Yuan’s life, he was a model of righteousness who never got derailed. Just as the eulogy from Shima Qian (司馬遷, 145B.C. -?)’s Record of the grand historian, (Shiji, 史記) in the Han Dynasty, “Qu Ping is a righteous man, devoted all of his fidelity and efforts to the country and served the emperor. Sadly, he was defamed by the evil ones. Thus, he could be regarded as having a harsh life”. (屈平正道直行,竭忠盡智,讒人間之,可謂窮矣). Throughout his whole life, Qu Yan devoted himself to self-cultivation of virtues. He coined these virtues “inner beauties” and compared them to fragrant flowers and grasses like Magnolia (Mu-Lan, 木蘭), Autumn Orchid (Qiu-Lan 秋蘭) and Surviving the Winter Grass (Su-Mang, 宿莽). In Encountering sorrow (Li-Sao), Qu Yuan said, “I have these inner beauties, then I can build up my strength again”. He even regarded self-cultivation as his hobby: “Different people have different hobbies. I regard self-cultivation as a daily hobby.”

Blooming Magnolia

Tangerine

Dried peel of tangerine (Chen Pi)
Qu Yuan also used the symbol of tangerine to represent himself. He even wrote An Ode to the Tangerine (Ju-Song, 橘頌). Tangerine is a kind of citrus fruit. The dried peel of tangerine is what Cantonese called “Can4 Pei4” (陳皮, vintage tangerine peel, in mandarin Chen Pi), which is one of the three specialties in Guangdong province of China. Dried peel of tangerine from Xin-Hui County (新會) was a popular good as early as in Song Dynasty. Apart from its nutritious values, it possesses good utilities in Chinese medicine. Not only it can help us to strengthen our spleen and nourishing our lung, but also stop coughing and reduce phlegm. In the Eulogy of Tangerine, Qu wrote: “green leaves, white flowers, so delightfully displayed. So many branches with sharp spines, with these round fruits swinging. The interplay of yellow and green is like a brilliant piece of writing. The pure colour on peels and pure white inside are just like our moral obligations”. (綠葉素榮,紛其可喜兮。曾枝剡棘,圓果摶兮。青黃雜糅,文章爛兮,精色內白,類任道兮。)The poet used symbols like green leaves, white flowers, interplay of green and yellow, and round fruit, colourful and beautiful, to represent Qu Yuan’s vision of virtues and characters. Another special feature of tangerine is that it is deeply rooted to its homeland. Once tangerine finds its earth in the southern land, it remains there and cannot be easily transplanted to other areas. “The God is praising the tree and tangerine is coming here. Following its fate and never thinking of migrating, tangerine is proliferating in this southern country. The root is so deep that it is very difficult to transplant to other areas, reflecting its faithfulness to the land”. This is Qu Yuan’s own statement: Staying in his motherland and devoting all his love for his country and people, without any intention to migrate elsewhere.
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使我想起「余幼好此奇服兮,年既老而不衰,帶長鋏之陸離兮,冠切雲之崔嵬。披明月兮珮寶璐。世溷濁而莫余知兮,吾方高馳而不顧。」,此屈平之志氣!👍
#1
Chi Seng Pun
03-02-2023 12:10:59