Chinese Lit

• Chinese literature is one of the major literary heritages of the world, with an uninterrupted history of more than 3,000 years, dating back at least to the 14th century BCE
• Chinese language


  Retained its unmistakable identity in both its spoken and written aspects despite changes in pronunciation, regional and local dialects, and stages in the structural representation of written characters
• Even the partial or total conquests of China for considerable periods by non-Han Chinese ethnic groups from outside the Great Wall failed to disrupt the continuity of Chinese literature
• Conquerors were culturally assimilated except the Mongols, who retreated en masse to their original homeland after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368
• Shang Dynasty was the first dynasty with historical record and archaeological evidence


  about 1700-1050 BC
• Oldest specimens of Chinese writing extant are inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells dating back to the last three centuries of the Shang dynasty (18th–12th centuries BCE)
• Zhou Dynasty was contemporaneous with the Shang Dynasty and lasted for about 800 years


  1400 – 221 BCE
• Literary achievements of the Zhou Dynasty


  • Confucian Classics, early Taoist writings, and other important prose works deeply shaped Chinese philosophy and religion
• Confucius was China’s most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, whose ideas profoundly influenced the civilizations of China and other East Asian countries
• Chinese mythology began to undergo a profound transformation during the latter centuries of the Zhou Dynasty
• The first anthology of Chinese poetry, known as the Shijing (“Classic of Poetry”), was given definitive form around the time of Confucius (551–479 BCE) and its 305 songs are believed to range in date from the beginning of the Zhou dynasty to the time of their compiling
• Wujing (Five Classics) of Confucius

  • Yijing (“Classic of Changes”), Shujing (“Classic of History”), Shijing (“Classic of Poetry”), Liji (“Record of Rites”)
• The Shijing, consisting of temple, court, and folk songs, was given definitive form somewhere around the time of Confucius (551–479 BCE). Its 305 songs are believed to range in date from the beginning of the Zhou dynasty to the time of their compiling
• WUJING (FIVE CLASSICS) OF CONFUCIUS

  • Yijing ("Classic of Changes")
  • Shujing ("Classic of History")
  • Shijing ("Classic of Poetry")
  • Liji ("Record of Rites")
  • Chunqiu ("Spring and Autumn [Annals]")
• The beginning of the Zhou dynasty tradition is obscure because most of the early samples were eclipsed by the brilliant 4th/3rd-century-BCE compositions of Qu Yuan, China’s first known poet
• Other early writings during the Zhou dynasty

  • Daodejing ("Classic of the Way of Power")
  • Lunyu ("Conversations" or "Analects") of Confucius
• The prose style continued to be developed by philosopher-essayists such as Xunzi and his pupil, the Legalist Hanfeizi. The peak of this development was reached with the appearance of the first expertly arranged full-length book, Lüshi Chunqiu ("The Spring and Autumn [Annals] of Mr. Lü"), completed in 240 BCE under the general direction of Lü Buwei. The work summarizes the teachings of several schools of philosophy as well as the folklore of the various regions of China
• The poems of the Shijing are the earliest poems recorded in Chinese and one of the foundations of the classical Chinese literary tradition. The Shijing is an anthology of 300 ancient Chinese poems, traditionally attributed to Confucius. Recent scholarship suggests the poems were created from c. 900 to c. 500 BCE and compiled in their present form beginning around the late fourth century BCE. The anthology contains a wide variety of poems on themes ranging from love and daily life among the people to the mythology and history of the Zhou dynasty
• The Shijing exerted a profound influence on Chinese poetry, stressing the lyrical element, end rhymes for musical effect, regular lines with a standard number of syllables, and the utilization of intonation for rhythm
• Standard texts for Chinese education during the Zhou dynasty

  • The Book of Rites (also known as The Book of Great Learning)
  • The Doctrine of the Mean
  • The Anal
• Standard texts for Chinese education

  • The Book of Rites (also known as The Book of Great Learning)
  • The Doctrine of the Mean
  • The Analects of Confucius
  • The Works of Mencius
  • The I-Ching
  • The Classics of Poetry
  • The Classics of Rites
  • The Classics of History
  • The Spring and Autumn Annals
• QIN AND HAN DYNASTY

  221 BCE–220 CE
• An early form of Buddhism was established in China during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), but their temples and literature were destroyed
• The written Classical Language was standardized during the Qin Dynasty
• The Qin Emperor (Qin Shihuangdi) favored legalism as a philosophical school to organize and strengthen the country
• At the beginning of the Han Dynasty (206-220 BC), Confucianism was revived and Confucian texts were written and republished
• The Han Dynasty era was a hotspot for scientific and technical advancement, but printing was not available for wide publication of information
• Cai Lun of the imperial court is credited as the first person to create writing paper, which was important for written communication at the end of the empire
• During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the fu genre, a combination of rhyme and prose, began to flourish, serving the amusement of the new aristocracy and the glorification of the empire
• Major fu writers during the Qin and Han Dynasties included Mei Sheng, Sima Xiangru, and Yang Xiong
• The Han government reactivated the Yuefu, or Music Bureau, in 125 BCE to collect songs and their musical scores, preserving songs sung or chanted by ordinary people
• A handscroll illustrating the 305 poems in the Shijing (The Book of Odes) was compiled by Ma Hezhi and assistants during the Southern Song dynasty
• Prose literature was further developed during the Qin and Han dynasties, with significant works like Huainanzi by Liu An
• “Kongque dongnanfei” (“Southeast the Peacock Flies”) is the most outstanding folk ballad of the Qin and Han Dynasties, relating the tragedy of a young married couple who committed suicide
• The longest poem of early Chinese literature (353 lines) relates the tragedy of a young married couple who committed suicide due to the cruelty of the husband’s mother
• The ballad was probably first sung shortly after 200 CE and was recorded in final form for the first time about 550
• Types of poetry


  • Yuefu songs
  • gushi
• Yuefu songs, most of which are made up mainly of five-syllable lines, became the fountainhead of a new type of poetry, gushi (“ancient-style poems”)
• Author: 'A masterpiece that took 18 years to produce'
• The Shiji by Sima Qian deals with major events and personalities of about 2,000 years (down to the author’s time), comprising 130 chapters and totaling more than 520,000 words