Qu Yuan (屈平) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Qu Yuan as a diplomat, official, poet, and statesman. This record brings together 37 passages from 9 chapters across 7 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Qu Yuan	屈平	Qu Yuan
Title	Grand Master of the Three Wards	三閭大夫	Sānlǘ dàfū
Title	Lord Qu, Three-Minister Grandee of Chu	楚三閭大夫屈君
Given	Ping	平	Píng
Surname	Qu	屈	Qū
Personal	Qu Ping	屈平	Qu Ping
Personal name	Qu Ping	屈平	Qū Píng
Personal name	Qu Yuan	屈原	Qu Yuan
Personal name	Qu Yuan	屈原	Qū Yuán
Personal	Qu Yuan	屈原	Qū Yuán
Alternate name	Xiang exile	湘累

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · hanshu:090:s0197, houhanshu:032:s0148, jiuwudaishi:071:s0034, liangshu:030:s0200, nanqishu:036:s0004
Sex: male
Explicit · hanshu:098:s0018, shiji:084:s0001

Roles

Diplomat
Official
Poet
Statesman
Writer

Life and dates

Death

Manner: drowned himself in the river · Cause: political rejection
Explicit · hanshu:098:s0018
Manner: drowned by clasping a stone / 懷石自沈 · Place: Miluo River / 汨羅
Explicit · shiji:084:s0124

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: BC 340-278 · Western Interval: Start: BC 340 · End: BC 278
Strongly inferred · houhanshu:032:s0148
Western Interval: Start: BC 340 · End: BC 278 · Source Date: Text: 屈、賈無立德之譽
Strongly inferred · liangshu:030:s0200
Source Date: Text: 屈原 · Western Interval: Start: BC 340 · End: BC 278
Explicit · hanshu:098:s0018, hanshu:098:s0020, hanshu:098:s0025, hanshu:098:s0236, jiuwudaishi:071:s0034
Source Date: Text: 屈原赴湘 · Western Year: BC 278
Strongly inferred · hanshu:090:s0197
Source Date: Text: 楚懷王 · Western Interval: Start: BC 328 · End: BC 299
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:084:s0002, shiji:084:s0001
Source Date: Text: 汨渚之哀 · Western Year: BC 278
Explicit · nanqishu:036:s0144
Source Date: Text: 赴始安任途中祭文 · Western Interval: Start: AD 422 · End: AD 426
Explicit event contextual date · songshu:073:s0022, songshu:073:s0025, songshu:073:s0028
Source Date: Text: 頃襄王 · Western Interval: Start: BC 298 · End: BC 278
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:084:s0067, shiji:084:s0124

Origins and identity

Label: same clan as Chu royal house / 楚之同姓
Explicit · shiji:084:s0001

Career and standing

Label: Left Minister / 左徒 · Action: held
Explicit · shiji:084:s0002
Status: dismissed · Action: entered
Explicit · shiji:084:s0029
Status: estranged · Action: entered
Explicit · shiji:084:s0010, shiji:084:s0044
Status: exile · Action: entered
Explicit · shiji:084:s0057, shiji:084:s0067
Status: trusted-by-ruler · Action: held
Explicit · shiji:084:s0006

Places and affiliations

Label: Chu · Relation: served
Explicit · shiji:084:s0001

Works and attributed material

Work: Embracing Sand / 懷沙 · Relation: author
Explicit · shiji:084:s0080
Work: Encountering Sorrow / Lisao / 離騷 · Relation: author
Explicit · hanshu:098:s0018
Work: Encountering Sorrow / 離騷 · Relation: author
Explicit · shiji:084:s0011, shiji:084:s0019
Work: Heavenly Questions / 天問 · Relation: author
Explicit · shiji:084:s0244
Work: Lament for Ying / 哀郢 · Relation: author
Explicit · shiji:084:s0244
Work: Summoning the Soul / 招魂 · Relation: author
Explicit · shiji:084:s0244
Kind: rhapsody · Role: author
Explicit · shiji:084:s0082, shiji:084:s0083, shiji:084:s0084, shiji:084:s0085, shiji:084:s0086, shiji:084:s0087, shiji:084:s0088, shiji:084:s0089, shiji:084:s0090, shiji:084:s0091, shiji:084:s0092, shiji:084:s0093, shiji:084:s0094, shiji:084:s0095, shiji:084:s0096, shiji:084:s0097, shiji:084:s0098, shiji:084:s0099, shiji:084:s0100, shiji:084:s0101, shiji:084:s0102, shiji:084:s0103, shiji:084:s0104, shiji:084:s0105, shiji:084:s0106, shiji:084:s0107, shiji:084:s0108, shiji:084:s0109, shiji:084:s0110, shiji:084:s0111, shiji:084:s0112, shiji:084:s0113, shiji:084:s0114, shiji:084:s0115, shiji:084:s0116, shiji:084:s0117, shiji:084:s0118, shiji:084:s0119, shiji:084:s0120, shiji:084:s0121, shiji:084:s0122, shiji:084:s0123
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: King Huai (懷王)
Explicit · shiji:084:s0044, shiji:084:s0048
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Fisherman (漁父)
Explicit · shiji:084:s0072, shiji:084:s0077, shiji:084:s0078

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: remonstrant · Action: advised-against-trip · Other Person Id: King Huai (懷王)
Explicit · shiji:084:s0048
Kind: literary · Role: author · Action: composed · Work: Encountering Sorrow / 離騷
Explicit · shiji:084:s0011
Kind: personal · Role: suicide · Action: drowned · Place: Miluo / 汨羅
Explicit · shiji:084:s0124
Kind: ritual · Role: commemorated-deceased · Action: received a sacrificial text from Yan Yanzhi · Other Person Id: Yan Yanzhi (顏延年)
Explicit · songshu:073:s0025, songshu:073:s0028

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: literary gifts surpassed Sima Xiangru · Provenance: Mode: quoted-judgment · Speaker Person Id: Yang Xiong (揚雄)
Explicit · hanshu:098:s0018
Assessment: loyal and upright; brilliance could rival sun and moon · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment · Speaker Person Id: Sima Qian (太史公)
Explicit · shiji:084:s0027, shiji:084:s0028, shiji:084:s0244
Assessment: loyal, pure, and unjustly destroyed in a corrupt age · Provenance: Mode: quoted-document · Source Person Id: Yan Yanzhi (顏延年)
Explicit · songshu:073:s0029, songshu:073:s0030, songshu:073:s0031, songshu:073:s0033, songshu:073:s0034, songshu:073:s0035, songshu:073:s0037
Assessment: no reputation for establishing virtue · Statement: Qu Yuan and Jia Yi have no reputation for establishing virtue / 屈、賈無立德之譽 · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment · Speaker Person Id: Yao Cha (姚察)
Explicit · liangshu:030:s0200

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

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

Open chapter

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

Open chapter

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 drift Pengli, gaze toward Shun's land, tally night-shining pearls, split moon-pearls, whip Lady Fu of the Luo, and feast Qu Yuan and Peng-Xu.

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

Open chapter

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.

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

Open chapter

〈（《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

Open chapter

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

Open chapter

情貫於時，無悲世辱。 Therefore each nature has its fragrance — no need for Qu Yuan's grief;

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

Open chapter

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.