An analysis of the “Reading the verses of Chu” article by Hu Shi

The paper presents an attempt to analyze Hu Shi's “Reading the Verses of Chu” which is considered one of the basic theoretic works for the “discussion on rejecting the historicity of Qu Yuan”. It spread in the first decades following the formation of the Republic of China (1911-1945) and gave birth to the to the estimation that the famous chuci (verses of Chu) poetic tradition, was firmly considered in the course of the previous centuries to be originated by the creative activities of Qu Yuan (4th - 3rd century BC), a stateman of the ancient Chinese Chu Kingdom (11th - 3rd century BC), derived in fact from an ancient anonymous cantos. It is widely considered nowadays that it was precisely Hu Shi who first stated the fictionality of Qu Yuan. However, close reading of the work shows that its content is not limited to discussing this issue. Recognizing the possibility of the existence of such a Chu poet and his authorship of a number of poetic pieces attributed to him, Hu Shi called for the abandonment of the formulaic interpretations of Qu Yuan’s image and the chuci poetry, which arouse on the basis of further legends about Chu and being under the influence of Confucian views on literary activities and personally on Qu Yuan. Thus, Hu Shi outlined a fundamentally new methodological approach to the study of the verses of Chu, which was based on examining the texts as well as their historical and cultural context. This is his true theoretical contribution to the Chinese humanities of the 20th century