Liu Zong-yuan, a Tang dynasty man of letters , once told his friends a story about the dogs of Shu that bark at the sun. Shu is now the province of Sichuan. It frequently rains there. Sometimes, when it rains, the rain lasts for months. There are not many days in the year when the sun can be seen. Liu Zong-yuan told his friends, because of the bad weather, the sun is rarely seen in Shu. Therefore,  whenever the rain stops and the sun comes out, the dogs of Shu find it strange and start to bark.

唐朝的文學家柳宗元，曾經和朋友講過蜀犬吠日的故事。蜀，就是現在的四川，那裡的天氣經常下雨， 有時候一下起雨來，甚至可以連下好幾個月，一年中能看見太陽的日子沒有幾天。柳宗元告訴朋友，就是因為蜀的天氣不好，很少出太陽， 所以那裡的狗只要一放晴，就會覺得奇怪，開始大聲吠叫起來。