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Chinese literature is a vast subject that spans thousands of years. One of the interesting things about Chinese literature is that much of the serious literature was composed using a formal written language that is called Classical Chinese.
Welcome to the dynasty in China: A travel for free
How's literature during this dynasty?
1. Shang Dynasty (about 1700-1050 BC) — Development of Chinese Writing
The first dynasty for which there is historical record and archaeological evidence is the Shang Dynasty. It was a small empire in northern central China. There is no documents from that country survive, but there are archaeological finds of hieroglyphic writing on bronze wares and oracle bones.
2. Zhou Dynasty (1045-255 BC) — Basic Philosophical and Religious Literature
The Zhou Dynasty was contemporaneous with the Shang Dynasty, and then they conquered the Shang Dynasty. Their dynasty lasted for about 800 years, but for most of the time, their original territory was broken up into dozens of competing kingdoms, and these finally coalesced into several big and warring kingdoms by the end of the Zhou era. The great literary works of philosophy and religion that became the basis for Chinese religious and social belief stem from what is called the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476) and the Warring States Period (475-221). Taoism, Confucian literature, and other prominent religious and philosophical schools all emerged during these two periods.
3. Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) — Literary Disaster and Legalism
An early form of Buddhism was also established in China at that time, but their temples and literature were destroyed and even less is known about them. The emperor wanted to reduce the One Hundred Schools of Thought to one that he approved. He ordered the destruction of most books all over the empire. He even killed many Confucian philosophers and teachers. He allowed books on scientific subjects like medicine or agriculture to survive. So the “Book Burning and Burial of Scholars” was a literary disaster. On the other hand, the Qin Dynasty standardized the written Classical Language. It is said that a minister of the Qin emperor named Li Si introduced a writing system that later developed into modern Chinese writing. Standardization was meant to help control the society. The standardized writing system also helped people all over the country to communicate more clearly.
4. Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) — Scientific and Historical Texts
A former peasant leader overthrew the Qin Empire. The Han Dynasty era lasted for 400 years. At the beginning of the era, Confucianism was revived. Confucian texts were rewritten and republished. Confucianism was mixed with the Legalism philosophy of Li Si. The resulting ideology was the official ideology of the Han Dynasty and influenced political thinking afterwards. The era’s major contributions were historical texts and scientific works. Sima Qian wrote Historical Records that is a major history concerning the overall history of China from before the Shang Dynasty until the Han Dynasty. The book’s prose was considered a model for writers in succeeding dynastic eras. The Han Dynasty era was one of the two main hotspot eras for scientific and technical advance. But printing wasn’t available for wide publication of the information. Cai Lun (50–121) of the imperial court is said to be the first person in the world to create writing paper, and this was important for written communication at the end of the empire. Two or three mathematical texts showing advanced mathematics for the times were written.
5. Tang Dynasty (618-907) — Early Woodblock Printing and Poetry
The Tang Dynasty had a big empire that benefited from trade with the west along the Silk Road, battled with the Tibetan Empire, and experienced the growing influence of organized Buddhist religions.This era’s main contribution to Chinese literature was in the poetry of Dufu, Li Bai and many other poets. Dufu and Li Bai are often thought of as China’s greatest poets. Li Bai (701–762) was one of the greatest romantic poets of ancient China. He wrote at least a thousand poems on a variety of subjects from political matters to natural scenery. Du Fu (712-770 AD) also wrote more than a thousand poems. He is thought of as one of the greatest realist poets of China. His poems reflect the hard realities of war, dying people living next to rich rulers, and primitive rural life.
6. Song Dynasty (960-1279) — Early Woodblock Printing, Travel Literature, Poetry, Scientific Texts and the Neo-Confucian Classics
The next dynasty is called the Song Dynasty. It was weaker than the Tang Dynasty, but the imperial government officials made remarkable scientific and technical advances. Military technology greatly advanced and their northern territory was invaded, and they were forced to move their capital to southern China. The era is divided into two eras called the Northern Song and Southern Song. One of the era’s technological accomplishments was the invention of movable type about the turn of 2nd millennia during the Northern Song period. This helped to spread knowledge since printed material could be published more quickly and cheaply. Travel Literature in which authors wrote about their trips and about various destinations became popular perhaps because the texts could be cheaply bought. These Confucian Classics were the Five Classics that were thought to have been penned by Confucius and the Four Books that were thought to contain Confucius-related material but were compiled during the Southern Song era. The Four Books and Five Classics (四書五經) were basically memorized by those who did the best on the exams. In this way, Confucianism, as codified during the Song era, became the dominant political philosophy of the several empires until modern times. Those who passed the difficult exams were highly respected even if they didn’t receive a ruling post. High education in this system was thought to produce nobility. The Five Classics and Four Books were written in the written Classical Language.
The Five Classics include:
- The Book of Changes
- The Classic of Poetry
- The Record of Rites
- The Classic of History
- The Spring and Autumn Annals
The Four Books include:
- The Analects of Confucius
- Mencius
- The Doctrine of the Mean
- The Great Learning
7. Yuan Dynasty
The Mongols were nomadic people who herded cattle north of the Tang Empire and wandered over a large area fighting on horseback. They believed that they might be able to conquer the world. They easily conquered Persia far to the west. It was a big empire with high technology, a big population and a big army. Then they decided to try to conquer all the countries around them. In China, the Mongols established the very rich Yuan Dynasty. In their camps, the Mongols were entertained byshadow puppet playsin which a lamp cast the shadows of little figurines and puppets on a screen or sheet. In the Yuan Dynasty, puppet drama continued to entertain the rich dynastic courts in vernacular language. Dramatic operatic theaters with human actors speaking in vernacular language was a favorite form of entertainment. So, though the Yuan Empire wasn’t ruled by Chinese, it was an era of some historically renowned dramatic playwrights and novelists who wrote in vernacular language. Guan Hanqing is regarded as one of the best playwrights of the times. He wrote Midsummer Snow that was one of the most popular drama pieces. It is a tragedy about an unjustly accused woman who received justice after her death. TheRomance of the Western Chamber was written by Wang Shifu. It is considered as one of the best romantic dramas ever written in China.
8. Ming Dynasty
The Chinese rebelled against the Mongols, and the Ming Dynasty era began about 1368. The Mongols and the Ming government still sometimes fought. And because of this and the presence of Muslim countries in between, trade with the west was reduced to the pre-Yuan level.
The Ming initially were interested in exploration, and Muslims whose ancestors arrived during the Yuan Dynasty and who were familiar with seagoing trade were employed to make long voyages to the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and perhaps Africa. Then they became isolationist. Journey to the West is thought to have been published anonymously by Wu Cheng'en in the 16th century though scholars have doubt about the authorship. However, this book was written in the vernacular. Perhaps because there was a lack of accurate geographical knowledge available to the author, much of the geographical landscape of the story is inaccurate. The book describes India as a land of gross, sin and immorality, and the monk was commissioned by Buddha to help India. On the other hand, the characters in the book are well known to Chinese children, and they often appear in martial arts movies and cartoons.
9. Qing Dynasty
The Manchus invaded the Ming Empire from the north and established the last dynasty called the Qing Dynasty. The Manchus were not Chinese, but they retained the Neo-Confucian governing system of the Song and Ming eras. The Qing Dynasty came under increasing attack from both internal rebellions and foreign countries. In the 19th century, foreign literature and the West became better known. In the middle of this era, the last of China’s four great classic novels was written called Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦); and near the end of the era, modernistic literature developed.
FINAL DESTINATION: THE MODERN ERA
Sun Yat-sen led a revolution that marked the end of Chinese dynasties in which a clan rules an empire. Of course, the big change of Chinese society that happened with the change of government led to a change in literature. Until about 1923, there was a New Culture Movement. Writers generally wanted to lead the way in transforming China into a modern industrialized country and replacing Confucian life-style with a westernized one. Under the national government, there was some freedom of expression, and lots of views and styles of literature were popular. China came under attack from Japan. After the Communist victory, only literature approved by the government was allowed.
GREAT STORIES IN CHINESE LITERATURE
A Little Incident ( Lu Hsun, Chinese, 1920)
Six years have slipped by since I came from the country to the capital. During that time I have seen and heard quite enough of so-called affairs of state; but none of them made much impression on me. If asked to define their influence, I can only say they aggravated my ill temper and made me, frankly speaking, more and more cynical. One incident, however, struck me as significant, and aroused me from my ill temper, so that even now I cannot forget it. It happened during the winter of 1917. A bitter north wind was blowing, but, to make a living, I had to be up and out early. I met scarcely a soul on the road, and had great difficulty in hiring a rickshaw to take me to the South Gate. Presently the wind dropped a little. By now the loose dust had all been blown away, leaving the roadway clean, and the rickshaw man quickened his pace. We were just approaching the South Gate when someone crossing the road was entangled in our rickshaw and fell slowly to the ground. It was a woman, with streaks of white in her hair, wearing ragged clothes. She had left the pavement without warning to cut across in front of us, and although the rickshaw man had made way, her tattered jacket, unbuttoned and fluttering in the wind, had caught on the shaft. Luckily the rickshaw man pulled up quickly, otherwise she would certainly have had a bad fall and been seriously injured.She lay there on the ground, and the rickshaw man immediately went to her aid. I did not think the old woman was hurt, and there had been no witnesses to what had happened, so I resented this over-eagerness of the rickshaw man which might land him in trouble and hold me up. “It’s alright,” I said. “Go on.”However, he paid no attention – perhaps he had not heard – for he set down the shafts, and gently helped the old woman to get up. Supporting her by one arm, he asked: “Are you all right?” “I’m hurt.” I had seen how slowly she fell, and was sure she could not be hurt. I thought she must be pretending, which was disgusting. The rickshaw man had asked for trouble, and now he had it. He would have to find his own way out. But the rickshaw man did not hesitate for a minute after the old woman said she was injured. Still holding her arm, he helped her slowly forward. I was surprised. When I looked ahead, I saw a police station. Because of the high wind, there was no one outside, so the rickshaw man helped the old woman towards the gate.Suddenly I had a strange feeling. His dusty, retreating figure seemed larger at that instant. Indeed, the further he walked the larger he appeared, until I had to look up to him. At the same time he seemed gradually to be exerting a pressure on me, which threatened to overpower the small self under my fur-lined gown.
My strength seemed to be draining away as I sat there motionless, my mind a blank, until a policeman came out. Then I got down from the rickshaw. The policeman came up to me and said, “Get another rickshaw. He can’t pull you anymore.”Without thinking, I pulled a handful of coppers from my coat pocket and handed them to the policeman. “Please give him these,” I said. The wind had dropped completely, but the road was still quiet. I walked along thinking, but I was almost afraid to turn my thoughts on myself. Setting aside what had happened earlier, what had I meant by that handful of coppers? Was it a reward? Who was I to judge the rickshaw man? I could not answer myself. Even now, this remains fresh in my memory. It often causes me distress, and makes me think about myself. The military and political affairs of those years I have forgotten as completely as the classics I read in my childhood. Yet this incident keeps coming back to me, often more clearly than in actual life, teaching me shame, urging me to reform, and giving me fresh courage and hope.
A Country Boy Quits School (By Lao Hsiang )
The story starts out by saying that in the country a nine-year old boy is at least half as useful as an adult because he can help with several chores, so the family didn't want to send him to school. However, there was a proclamation that stated that any boy over six years old had to go or a family member would have to go to jail. The boy goes to school and he brings books back, which the teacher has told him cost money. The family is concerned because they will have to go without to raise enough money for the books, and they are already losing work from sending the boy to school. They tell him that he will have to work very hard. He goes to school the next day before dawn to work hard, and finds that the school is not open yet. He is told to go home. He does, and his family is angry at him for not working hard. He goes on a Sunday and is told that they don't have school on Sunday, and they don't understand why that is either. The pictures in the book aren't anything that they can relate to, and the text of the book says "this is my mama" and "this is my papa" with pictures that are definitely not anyone they know. The boy is sent to ask the teacher whose mama this is. The book also says things like "the ox tends the fire," and the boy learns later that they are learning about things that are made up. The boys read about a tea party and want to have one, so they agree to each contribute twenty cents so that they can send away for oranges and other exotic foods it mentions, and all of their families condemn them as selfish because they are asking for money for a frivolity. The last straw comes when they boy is reading in his book "In my family I have a papa, a mama, a brother, and a sister." He is studying hard and repeating his reading often, and the grandmother gets really upset because she is not included in the family. The boy's father tells her not to be angry anymore, and that he would rather go to jail than to let him read this type of book anymore.
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