十世纪以前的楚辞传播

战国中后期,秦楚尖锐对立,楚怀王成了被欺诈、被侮辱的悲剧形象,楚人蒙羞,啣恨百年,不忘报仇雪耻。此乃《招魂》、《大招》和以“存君兴国”为主旋律的屈原作品得以传播的社会基础。 '楚人高其行义,玮其文采,世相教传 ',汉代人的记叙必有事实依托,但具体细节莫可踪迹。在楚辞文本传承、解说衍生、诵读不辍诸方面,贾谊、刘安、司马迁、刘向、王逸、郭璞、刘杳、刘勰、萧统、智(道)、公孙罗、李善、五臣、王勉、大江匡衡(日本)诸先贤在楚辞学史上留下了光辉的业绩。

The Spreading of Songs of Chu: Before 10th Century

During the middle and later periods of the Warring States ,Qin State regarded Chu State as its most competitive opponent ,and spared no effort in weakening Chu State .As a result ,King Huai of Chu became a cheated ,humiliated ,and miserable king ,mocked by people throughout the world ,and finally diedin Qin State .The people of Chu State suffered an intense shame mixed with deep hatred ,unable to give up on their desire to exact revenge for hundreds years .The spread of Zhaohun( Summonsof the Soul) and Dazhao( TheGreat Summons) written by Qu Yuan ,whose main purpose was″to defend the King and strengthen the nation ,″had a profound social foundation . We can see that Jia Yi had at least read Lisaoand Jiuzhang( Nine Pieces) before he wrote DiaoQu Yuan Fu(Ode of Mourning Qu Yuan) in 175 B .C .Incomplete parts of Lisao and Jiuzhang were found among the books buried with Marquis Xiahou Zao of Ruyin in165 B .C .In 139 B .C .,King Liu An of Huainan wrote Lisao Zhuan(Memoir of Lisao) ,expounding Lisao,Jiuge( Nine Songs) ,Taiwen( Heavenly Questions) ,Jiuzhang( Nine Pieces) ,Yuanyou( Far-off Journey) ,Buju( Divination) ,and Yufu( The Fisherman) .In the Zongxu( Preface) ,he remarked that Qu Fu(Qu Prose) was as splendid as the Sun and the Moon ,and reported to Emperor Wu of Han it should be stored in the royal library .About a hundred years later ,Liu Xiang sorted through the books in the royal library and recorded twenty-five odes by Qu Yuan .Around the year120 B .C .,Wang Yi's Chuci Zhangju ,which made syntactic and semantic analyses of Songs of Chu ,had16 volumes(one source states it was 17 volumes) ,including ten works by Qu Yuan and Song Yu ,six or seven of which belonged to the Han Dynasty .It later formed the system of Songs of Chu that we read today . During the time of Emperor Wu of Liang ,Liu Yao wrote a volume of Lisao Caomu Shu (Explanationof Plants in Lisao) . Liu Xie wrote ten volumes of Wenxin Diaolong to which people attach great importance as it both conducts glossarial explanations and differentiates between styles .What is more important is that the two learned scholars were good friends of Prince Zhaoming ,and they devoted themselves to the compilation of thirty volumes of Wenxuan (The Anthology) .The masterpieces of Qu Yuan's and Song Yu's thus mounted the great ship of Wenxuan ,filled away with the pushing wind of official examination system of Tang and Song dynasties ,and served as textbooks that must be read by scholars .It is so widespread and influential that a single pamphlet of Songs of Chu is not comparable . Though the texts and annotations are essential to the spreading of Songs of Chu ,the importance of chanting cannot be underestimated .The biggest problem is that because of the differences between ancient and modern phonetics ,the rhyming is not in accordance with the original ones . Qu Yuan used the official standard spoken language of Chu State ,called literary language ,but did not exclude dialect in his rhymes ,which can be proved by the fact that its rhyming coincided with the rhyme categories of The Book of Songs .Eight hundred years later ,when Liu Xie read aloud Songs of Chu with the official standard spoken languages of Qi and Liang ,he claimed ,in surprise that ,″the wrong rhymes are actually too complicated ,″t hough his words are believed to have been a bit exaggerated .As China has a vast territory ,the speech sounds in literary language and dialects are significantly different .Modern Wu dialect follows the phonetic system of ancient times .As early as the last years of Liang ,Shen Zhong ,from Huzhou ,Zhejiang ,first advocated″to bring rhyming sentences into accordance″and Lu Deming advocated ″to bring rhymes into accordance ,″whose background resources were nothing but dialect of Wu district .ChuciYinyi( Explanationsof Pronunciation and Meaning of Songsof Chu) written by Zhi Xian(Dao Xian) is a typical work making use of the Wu dialect to handle rhyming problems of Songs of Chu .If some of the pronunciations were not in accordance with the rhyming of Songs of Chu ,it would then follow that the sound of the official standard spoken language at that time ,which can be proved by the dialect in Boluzhen Town of Yuyao area in Zhejiang province ,where the famous Huiri Temple is located .Modern Wu dialect should be exploited to help the chanting of ancient poems . The spread of Songs of Chu consists in our strong will to carry forward and develope Qu Yuan's spirit in Lisao.Many men of principle and virtue have devoted themselves to the pursuit of the ideal ,whose glorious deeds are heroic and moving .Many men of letters have created and recreated songs and poetries ,dramas ,paintings and calligraphies that are so abundant and various that they have enriched our culture to a great extent .It is a great task for us to annotate Qu Yuan's works and his spirit in Lisao,and summarize the experience and lessons of the past in order to help push forward the renaissance of Chinese culture .