Zhu Xi devoted his life to academics and achieved great achievements in Song Dynasty scholarship, which had a huge impact on subsequent academic studies in China and East Asia. Therefore, Zhu Xi has always been called ‘Zhu‘zi’(朱子)’. Among the historical figures in Chinese academic history, apart from the pre-Qin scholars, Zhu Xi is the only one who has almost no objection to being called ‘Zhu Zi’. This alone is enough to show his special status in academic history.
In the history of Chinese academics, Zhu Xi can be said to be very special in many aspects. The most striking among them is that although he was an outstanding master of Neo-Confucianism, he also had a strong interest and profound love for literature and literary creation. Achievements, unlike the previous Neo-Confucianists such as Zhou Dunyi and Er Cheng who generally held a negative attitude towards literature. He has written more than 1,300 poems, and his views on literature are scattered in works such as ≪Zhu Zi Yu Lei(朱子語類)≫, ≪Zhu Zi Quan Shu(朱子全書)≫ and ≪Han Wen Kao Yi(韓文考異)≫, ≪Shi Ji Zhuan(詩集傳)≫ and ≪Chu Ci Ji Zhu(楚辭集注)≫. His understanding and attainments in literature are not only comparable to those of other professional literati, but in terms of the overall level presented in these works, he has achieved achievements that are difficult for any other professional literati to achieve.
In fact, from today's point of view, the works of ≪Shi Jing(詩經)≫ and ≪Chu Ci(楚辭)≫ themselves belong to the category of literature. However, from the academic point of view of Zhu Xi at the time, his ≪Shi Ji Zhuan(詩集傳)≫ not only belonged to the category of literature, but also belonged to the field of Confucian classics. Therefore, it was natural for Zhu Xi, a master of Neo-Confucianism, to write it. However, the related works of his ≪Chu Ci Ji Zhu(楚辭集注)≫ are works in the field of literature, so it is indeed unusual for Zhu Xi, a master of Neo-Confucianism, to devote all his efforts to writing it in his later years.
Through investigation, the following conclusions were drawn.
First of all, according to what he disclosed in the <Preface(序言)>, from an academic standpoint, Zhu Xi was dissatisfied with the previous academic achievements such as ≪Chu Ci Zhang Ju(楚辭章句)≫ by Wang Yi(王逸) of the Han Dynasty and ≪Chu Ci Bu Zhu(楚辭補注)≫ by Song Hongxingzu(洪興祖), and wanted to conduct research on it (Corrections and additions).
Secondly, Zhu Xi liked to read Qu Yuan(屈原)'s ‘Chu Ci’ and Qu Yuan's person since he was young. We can see from ≪Zhu Zi Yu Lei(朱子語類)≫ and ≪Zhu Zi Nian Pu(朱子年譜)≫ that he had developed a strong love for ‘Chu Ci’ when he was about 20 years old. The author then compared Zhu Xi's evaluation of Qu Yuan's ‘Chu Ci’ through <Bian Sao(辨騷)> in ≪Wen Xin Diao Long(文心雕龍)≫, which confirmed that Zhu Xi had a unique understanding of the value of Qu Yuan's ‘Chu Ci’.
Third, previous researchers mostly mentioned the relationship between the social and political situation of the Southern Song Dynasty and Zhu Xi's various situations under the ‘Qingyuan Party Ban(慶元黨禁)’ at that time and his writing ≪Chu Ci Ji Zhu(楚辭集注)≫. In the author's opinion, it is indeed difficult for us to deny that those However, since the information provided by the relevant documents we see today is mostly speculative content of later generations, the reliability of its facts is limited.
To summarize Zhu Xi's motivation for writing ‘Chu Ci’, I think his usual interest and understanding of Qu Yuan's ‘Chu Ci’ should be the key, and then the atmosphere of the times, including the ‘Qingyuan Party Ban’, played a driving role. As for the reason why Zhu Xi did not clearly state his motivation for writing, it seems that it is inseparable from the two factors of his so-called “shame” and “party ban”.
As for the reason why most people from the Song and Ming dynasties to the Qing Dynasty and in our country Choson, Zhu Xi’s ≪Chu Ci Ji Zhu(楚辭集注)≫ as the basis for reading ‘Chu Ci’, the author believes that Zhu Xi's special status as a Neo-Confucian master played a big role. In other words, unlike the ≪Shi Jing(詩經)≫, the ≪Chu Ci≫ originally had a strong literary attribute and had little to do with Confucianism. It is even an object that traditional Confucianists think is harmful to ‘Xue(學)’, so they should be wary of it. Because it was written by Zhu Xi, who was a master of Confucianism, it opened a door of convenience for later generations of scholars and literati.
This fact can be confirmed from the Chinese academic history through various previous documents and the ≪Sikuquanshu General Catalog(四庫全書總目)≫ and other documents. As far as Chosun is concerned, this study also specially selected several keywords and passed [Korean Classic Comprehensive DB(韓國古典綜合DB)] query, and got very reference results.