Literature (All)

• China is home to the oldest of the major world civilizations.
• China is the world's third largest country by total land area.
• The Chinese language is the medium of Chinese literature.
• China is home to the oldest known civilization, with an unbroken record of civilization that dates back to before 221 BC.
• China's history can be divided into dynasties, each with its own contribution and/or influence to Chinese literature.
• Chinese literature has profoundly influenced the literary traditions of other Asian countries, particularly Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
• Poetry in Chinese literature is recorded through calligraphy to maintain its aesthetic appeal.
• Calligraphy has an elevated status in Chinese literature, regarded for at least the last 16 centuries as a fine art comparable to painting.
• Despite the disadvantages, calligraphy has been the potent factor in perpetuating the cultural unity of the growing millions of the Chinese people.
• There was always music to accompany all major types of Chinese poetry, which were all sung instead of read.
• Compactness and brevity were two of the major characteristics of Chinese poetry, with hardly no narrative or descriptive poems.
• There is no distinct line between prose and poetry in Chinese literature, leading to these three genres: Fu uses rhyme and metre, occasional flights into the realm of the poetic, it retains the features of prose without being necessarily prosaic.
• Pianwen (parallel prose) is characterized by antithetic construction and balanced tonal patterns without the use of rhyme.
• Baguwen (“ eight-legged essay ”) dominated the field of Chinese writing as the principal yardstick in grading candidates in the official civil-service examinations.
• Classical, or literary, prose (guwen, or wenyan) is modeled after the Confucian Classics and early philosophers, with its own standards and styles.
• Vernacular prose (baihua) consists of writings in the living tongue, the everyday language of the authors.
• The fu genre, a combination of rhyme and prose, began to flourish in Chinese literature.
• Folk songs flourished in both regions.
• In the north, songs were more militant.
• TANG AND FIVE DYNASTIES: 618–960 This is where Chinese literature reached its golden age.
• Confucius, a teacher, advisor, editor, philosopher, reformer, and prophet, is known for his collection of aphorisms and historical anecdotes embodying the basic values of the Confucian tradition: learning, morality, ritual decorum, and filial piety.
• YUAN DYNASTY: 1206–1368 Full-pledge drama
• SONG DYNASTY: 960–1279 Literature increased because of printing.
• MING DYNASTY : 1368–1644 QING DYNASTY : 1644–1911/12 Two important novels took shape at that time.
• Du Fu, the greatest poet of China, was a keen observer of the political and social scene who criticized injustice wherever he found it and who clearly understood the nature of the great upheaval following the rebellion of dissatisfied generals.
• One example is Mulanshi (“ Ballad of Mulan ”), which sings of a girl who disguised herself as a warrior and won glory on the battlefield.
• In the south, poets and critics had their attention on popular love songs from the coastal areas.
• Qu Yuan, a prominent writer of the Tang dynasty, was known for his criticism of injustice and his understanding of the great upheaval following the rebellion of dissatisfied generals.
• Classical literature in Japan includes the Heian period (794–1185) which is known for tanka poetry and the prescribed melancholy vein.
• Ki Tsurayuki is celebrated for his Tosa nikki (936; The Tosa Diary), the account of his homeward journey to Kyōto from the province of Tosa, where he had served as governor.
• Genji monogatari (c. 1010; The Tale of Genji) and in Izumi Shikibu nikki (The Diary of Izumi Shikibu) are prominent works from the medieval literature period.
• The chief development in poetry during the Tokugawa shogunate was the emergence of the haiku as an important genre with 17 syllables arranged in lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.
• Basho Matsuo Bashō, pseudonym of Matsuo Munefusa, is known for his haiku, such as "old pond !" (frog jumps in water's sound).
• Akutagawa Ryūnosuke based his stories from legends and myths from 12th and 13th century Japanese tales retold in the light of modern psychology and in a highly individual style.
• Akutagawa Ryūnosuke often had feverish intensity in his stories, which were well-suited to their often macabre themes.
• In Buddhism, Lord Buddha Shakyamuni is depicted as Kandanta Spider, symbolizing his ability to weave together the threads of life and death.
• The Spider Thread by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke is a 20-minute reading about a man who is allowed to redeem himself from hell.