On The Chineseization Of Chu Culture From The Relationship Between Chu Ci And The Book Of Songs

Based on the texts of The Songs of Chu, it’s not difficult to conclude that The Songs of Chu is in relation to The Book of Songs in a variety of aspects such as techniques of expression, thinking method and literature spirit, and The Songs of Chu is under influence of The Book of Songs. Set in the unprecedentedly prosperous cultural communication in the Warring Period of Spring and Autumn, culture of Kingdom of Chu came into contact with that of Yellow River Plains. As a result, culture of Kingdom of Chu identified with, absorbed and integrated with that of Yellow River Plains. In other words, culture of kingdom of Chu Chinesized gradually. At the same time, culture of Yellow River Plains exerted a subtle influence upon Quyuan, author of The Songs of Chu. The Songs of Chu, affected by The Book of Songs, is somewhat embodiment and inevitable product of culture of Yellow River Plains. This change offered an opportunity for The Book of Songs to bring The Songs of Chu into its influence.First of all, the paper reveals lots of common points in terms of methods of expression like Fu, Bi, Xing, subjects and contents and literature by use of text analysis method, which is very the classical examples of the fact that The Book of Songs to bring The Songs of Chu into its influence.Second, from the perspective of literary genealogy, the author explores those factors that pave way for the lessons drawn by The Songs of Chu from the writing of The Book of Songs. By means of extensive reading, the author arrives at the following conclusions: at first, the central plains culture complex offers psychological basis for this influence; then, the Kingdom of Chu, bordering on those vassal states along the Hanjiang River, was situated in the bordering zones between kingdom of Chu and Central Plains culture. It was this naturally geographical advantage that enabled Chu to draw from Central Plains cultures in a convenient manner, historical facts of which are intensively found in many historical documents, such as Chronicle of Zuo, Mandarin and so on. Besides, intellectuals from different regions communicated with each other frequently in the Warring Period of Spring and Autumn, an era featured by cultural fusion and "intellectual counselors from Chu are hired by Qin in a flip-flopping way". Southward confucianism communication and propagation provided Chu locals with favorable social backgrounds that enabled Chu locals to get in touch with cultures of Central Plains in a comprehensive and extensive manner. If "self-seclusion from the outside world" policy, carried out by Qing dynasty were applied in the Warring Period of Spring and Autumn, confucianism thoughts would never enter the south, nor will the author of The Songs of Chu be able to read The Book of Songs, not to mention the fact that the former will be influenced by the latter. Dana once made an analysis of the possible reasons behind the formation of literature texts in Philosophy of Art. In his opinion, writers’ races, living era and their material environments are key factors that are responsible for their producing literature masterpieces. Therefore, the paper revolves around these three points mentioned above that attribute to the influence Songs of Chu benefited from The Book of Songs, which also remains direct indications of this influence.Third, from the perspective of writers, the author attempts to illustrate the influence exerted by classical Confucian masterpieces including The Book of Songs upon Songs of Chu by an analysis of how Confucianism thoughts manifest itself in Songs of Chu. The fact that Quyuan was deeply under Confucianism influence is a typical individual example of culture of kingdom of Chu Chinesized.It’s inevitable that differences do exist as they are two individual texts, however, we can never deny the commonalities between them, or else it will be unfavorable to restore the actual historical facts or to clarify different academic thoughts. Though cultures of kingdom of Chu and Central Plains are believed to be disparate regional ones, yet what is more worthy of notice is the cross-infiltrating and cross-influence taking place among different regional cultures despite the focus on the regional cultural differences at the same time.Research on ancient literature goes from simple text analysis to an interpretation of cultural phenomenon that finally leads to an exploration of excellences featuring Chinese culture, which provides somewhat rewarding reference for resolving some current problems, for the realization of great cultural development and prosperity and for accumulating strength of the great Chinese dream.