Abstract

Up to this point, the reasons behind Qu Yuan's "Heavenly Questions" are clear: to resolve the vital issue of establishing the foundation of his beliefs. Once Qu Yuan—a man who had acted as the medium between, on one hand, the perfect way of the ancient kings and the ideology of the state, and, on the other, the realization of his individual character—was cast adrift, issues concerning the reliability of the perfect way of the ancient kings and the ideology of the state were revealed. That is to say, the reliability of his person as the medium was now a major issue of concern. For Qu Yuan, these two issues were actually one and the same.