Research Articles

 

Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.4, 2018

 

Guo Feng (Airs of the States) and the Northern Regional Culture in the Spring and Autumn Period (Abstract)

 

Yan Shi’an

 

The regional culture reflected in the fifteen Guo Feng in the Book of Songs is an old topic, and also a focus in modern research on the Book of Songs. However, to date, research on this regional culture has never been able to connect it to grass-roots folk customs. Compared with the later Songs of Chu, the Guo Feng shows a consistent cultural style. This has been interpreted as meaning that whereas Chu had a diversity of customs, including beliefs in ghosts and shamans, the simple customs of the north formed an integrated whole. The author believes that the fifteen Guo Feng range from Shaanxi to Shandong; it is not possible that none of these places had their own folk customs and religious beliefs, but they find no expression in Guo Feng. This would appear to be due to the cultural tradition of the northern fiefs. Specifically, the northern fiefs valued the clan system and elegant language, rejecting local beliefs in demonic powers and unruly deities. Although Guo Feng reflects the joys and sorrows of everyday life rather than events in the temples or palaces, it maintains the tradition of high culture by using standard or elegant language.