Song of the Yue Boatman

'Song of the man of Yue') is a short song in an ancient language of southern China in the Yangtze River valley said to have been recorded around 528 BC.

[3] The minister/narrator goes on to remark: "Zixi, Duke of E, was a brother of the Chu king by the same mother, his administrative position was that of prime minister, his peerage was that of a prince, yet a Yue boatman was able to enjoy intercourse with him to his satisfaction".

[9] In 1981, the linguist Wei Qingwen proposed an interpretation by comparing the words of the song with several Tai languages, particularly Zhuang varieties spoken today in Guangxi province.

[1] Building on Wei's work, Zhengzhang Shangfang produced a version in written Thai (dating from the late 13th century) as the closest available approximation to the original language, using his own reconstruction of Old Chinese.

Zhengzhang suggests that these lines were added during the composition of the Chinese version to fit the Chu Ci poetic style.