China's earliest narrative poems

China's earliest narrative poem is Peacock Flying Southeast.

Peacock Flying Southeast is the earliest long narrative poem in the history of ancient Chinese Han literature, the best folk narrative poem in ancient China and the longest narrative poem of ancient Han people. As the peak of narrative poetry in Han Yuefu, it is also an important symbol of the development of realistic poetry in the history of China literature.

Formerly known as "Ancient Poems for Giving a Wife", it was first seen in Xu Ling's "New Poems on Yutai" adapted from real people. The whole poem consists of 357 sentences with *** 1785 words. Shen Guiyu is called "the first long poem in ancient and modern times", and it is also called "Yuefu Double Wall" with Wei Zhuang's "Ode to Fu Qin" in Tang Dynasty.

Peacock Flying Southeast is based on a marriage tragedy in Lujiang County (now Anhui Province) during the reign of Emperor Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Originally a folk song, it may have been polished by later literati.

The story tells the story of a young woman named Liu Lanzhi who was beautiful, kind, intelligent and hardworking during the Jian 'an period at the end of Han Dynasty. After she married Jiao Zhongqing, the couple respected each other, loved each other and had deep feelings. Unexpectedly, the stubborn mother Jiao saw that she was not pleasing to the eye and was picky in every way, forcing her to be fired. Jiao Zhongqing was forced by her mother's life, but she had to persuade Lan Zhi to stay away from her family and try to take her home in the future.

When they broke up, the two vowed never to lose each other. Unexpectedly, after Lan Zhi returned to her mother's house, her flattering brother forced her to remarry the son of the satrap. Jiao Zhongqing rushed to the scene, and the two agreed to "meet under the grave". On the wedding day of the satrap's son, both of them died of double suicide.

Through the love tragedy of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing, Peacock Flying Southeast accuses and discusses the evils of feudal ethics, parental rule and the concept of gate valve, and expresses the reasonable desire of young men and women for marriage and love independence. Liu Lanzhi, the heroine, is faithful to love and has an uncompromising struggle against feudal forces and feudal ethics, which makes her a rebellious female image in the history of literature and is praised by young men and women in later generations.

This narrative poem is complete in story, concise in language, distinctive in character, compact and complete in structure and romantic in ending. It is the representative work of Han Yuefu folk songs. Since the May 4th Movement, it has been adapted into various plays and put on the stage.