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Literature and History Are Inseparable: The Great Yu in Poetry

Received: 6 May 2022    Accepted: 24 May 2022    Published: 20 July 2022
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Abstract

As a significant figure in the mythological period of the Chinese nation, the Great Yu was recorded in all Four Categories (sibu 四部) of classics. Under the influence of Disputing Antiquity movement, (Gushi bian古史辨), existing studies mainly focus on factual aspects. Moreover, scholars from the perspective of transmitted documents further give priority to the categories of Confucian classics, history and philosophy. In fact, poems and lyrics in the Category of Literature also contain plentiful records concerning the Great Yu, but they are unfortunately neglected by the present academia. In this paper, I present some narrations written by imperial China poets who treated Great Yu as an important sage-emperor in Chinese History. This paper finds that the themes of poetry about Great Yu are very broad, including Great Yu’s story, legend, governing, taming the flood, heritage, tomb, temple as well as marriage. Many famous poets are also willing to write poems with the theme of Great Yu. The paper focuses on the poetry about the Great Yu in the Category of Literature to explore this mythical character in ancient intellectual’s poetic expressions, so as to add to studies about the Great Yu.

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 10, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11
Page(s) 195-202
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Poetry on Yu, Great Yu, Category of Literature

References
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[25] Quan Tangshi 全唐詩 [The Whole Collection of Tang Period Poems] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960), vol. 728, p. 8338. Zhou composed another poem ‘Chanting again on Yu of the Xia Dynasty’.
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[30] Shen Deqian 沈德潛 (ed.), Qingshi biecai ji 清詩別裁集 [Discriminating Collection of Qing Poetry] (Shijiazhuang: Hebei renmin chubanshe, 1997), vol. 11, p. 210.
[31] Du Yu 杜預, Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (annotated), Chunqiu Zuozhuan Zhengyi 春秋左傳正義 [Correct Meaning of Chunqiu Zuozhuan], vol. 58, p. 2163.
[32] Yu Zhiyuan 于植元, Sun Shaohua 孫紹華 and Guan Jixin 關紀新 (eds.), Zhonghua Shishi yongshishi benshi 中華史詩咏史詩本事 [Chinese Epic and Poems on History or Historical Themes] (Nanning: Guangxi minzu chubanshe, 2000), p. 870.
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[40] Su Shi 蘇軾, ‘Arguments on the Confucian could Maintain the Achievements of Predecessors,’ 儒者可與守成論, in Su Dongpo quanji 蘇東坡全集 [Complete Writings of Su Dongpo], vol. 4, juan 2, p. 27.
[41] Su Shi 蘇軾, ‘Arguments on the Confucian could Maintain the Achievements of Predecessors,’ 儒者可與守成論, in Su Dongpo quanji 蘇東坡全集 [Complete Writings of Su Dongpo], vol. 4, juan 2, p. 28.
[42] Su Shi 蘇軾, ‘Arguments on the Rewarding the Honest in the Provincial Examination’ 省試刊賞忠厚之至論, in Su Dongpo quanji 蘇東坡全集 [Complete Writings of Su Dongpo], vol. 4, juan 2, p. 22.
[43] Su Shi 蘇軾, ‘Living in Faxi Temple in Hang, and Remembering Scholar Sun Shen when I Watch the Mountains in the Greenfield Pavilion behind the Temple, 宿餘杭法喜寺寺後綠野亭望吳興諸山懷孫莘老學士’ in Su Dongpo quanj 蘇東坡全集 [Complete Writings of Su Dongpo], vol. 1, juan 7, p. 305.
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    Ka-lai Chan. (2022). Literature and History Are Inseparable: The Great Yu in Poetry. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 10(4), 195-202. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11

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    Ka-lai Chan. Literature and History Are Inseparable: The Great Yu in Poetry. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2022, 10(4), 195-202. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11

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    Ka-lai Chan. Literature and History Are Inseparable: The Great Yu in Poetry. Int J Lit Arts. 2022;10(4):195-202. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11,
      author = {Ka-lai Chan},
      title = {Literature and History Are Inseparable: The Great Yu in Poetry},
      journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
      volume = {10},
      number = {4},
      pages = {195-202},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20221004.11},
      abstract = {As a significant figure in the mythological period of the Chinese nation, the Great Yu was recorded in all Four Categories (sibu 四部) of classics. Under the influence of Disputing Antiquity movement, (Gushi bian古史辨), existing studies mainly focus on factual aspects. Moreover, scholars from the perspective of transmitted documents further give priority to the categories of Confucian classics, history and philosophy. In fact, poems and lyrics in the Category of Literature also contain plentiful records concerning the Great Yu, but they are unfortunately neglected by the present academia. In this paper, I present some narrations written by imperial China poets who treated Great Yu as an important sage-emperor in Chinese History. This paper finds that the themes of poetry about Great Yu are very broad, including Great Yu’s story, legend, governing, taming the flood, heritage, tomb, temple as well as marriage. Many famous poets are also willing to write poems with the theme of Great Yu. The paper focuses on the poetry about the Great Yu in the Category of Literature to explore this mythical character in ancient intellectual’s poetic expressions, so as to add to studies about the Great Yu.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
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    AU  - Ka-lai Chan
    Y1  - 2022/07/20
    PY  - 2022
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11
    T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
    JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
    JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2331-057X
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20221004.11
    AB  - As a significant figure in the mythological period of the Chinese nation, the Great Yu was recorded in all Four Categories (sibu 四部) of classics. Under the influence of Disputing Antiquity movement, (Gushi bian古史辨), existing studies mainly focus on factual aspects. Moreover, scholars from the perspective of transmitted documents further give priority to the categories of Confucian classics, history and philosophy. In fact, poems and lyrics in the Category of Literature also contain plentiful records concerning the Great Yu, but they are unfortunately neglected by the present academia. In this paper, I present some narrations written by imperial China poets who treated Great Yu as an important sage-emperor in Chinese History. This paper finds that the themes of poetry about Great Yu are very broad, including Great Yu’s story, legend, governing, taming the flood, heritage, tomb, temple as well as marriage. Many famous poets are also willing to write poems with the theme of Great Yu. The paper focuses on the poetry about the Great Yu in the Category of Literature to explore this mythical character in ancient intellectual’s poetic expressions, so as to add to studies about the Great Yu.
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Author Information
  • Advanced Institute of Confucian Studies, Shandong University, Jinan, China

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