Yuan You (original) (raw)

"Yuanyou" or Far-off Journey (Chinese: 遠遊; Pinyin: Yuǎnyóu; English: Far Roaming) is a short work anthologized in the Chuci (楚辭 Songs of Chu, sometimes called The Songs of the South). "Yuanyou" is a poetic conceit involving a shamanic/Daoist flight to various places on earth and in heaven. Traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan, there is little likelihood that he is the actual author, and the imagery of the cosmos and of the beings and deities encountered during this vast trip are rather typical of the literary circle around the Han Dynasty Prince of Huainan, Liu An, according to David Hawkes. (2011 [1985]: 191 – 193)