Chinese Literature
9 min readLiterature is the most dynamic and glorious part of Chinese culture in manifesting its basic spirit and the aspirations and aesthetic pursuits of the Chinese nation with a unique nature and charm A succession of diversified literary forms，for instance，mythologies of remote antiquity，poems and ci in the Tang and Song dynasties，novels in the Ming and Qing dynasties，etc.，have spanned thousands of years and they represent the cream of the output of a large number of famous men of letters.Their masterpieces have gained perpetual ame.
Poetry is the earliest form of Chinese literature that originated from folk songs before the written Chinese language even eristed.
It is the most highly regarded literary genre in China.Traditionally，it is divided into shi or poetry，ci，ge or songs，and fu.All traditional forms of Chinese poetry are rhymed，but not all rhymed texts in ancient China are classified as poetry.
The Book of Songs
The Book of Songs，the earliest anthology of Chinese poetry，is the first monument in the Chinese poetic tradition.It contains 305 poems created over a period of some 500 years from the early Western Zhou dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autum Period.It was said that，in the Zhou dynasty，there were officials whose job was to collect poems from the public.There was also a rule requiring officials to compose poems and present them to the emperor for eventual editing and compilation in this anthology.At first，The Book or Songs was known as Poems or Three Hundred Poens.Confucius used it as a textbook to teach his disciples.Eventually，after the Han dynasty，more than 2，000 years ago，it became officially known as The Book of Songs.
The poems in The Book of Songs mainly consist of four-character verses.They are original in wording，harmonious in rhythm，concise in style，and pleasant to read.The Book of Songs splendidly signals the onset of Chinese literature.It has a great inpact upon the development of poetry in later times in terms of both its ideological and artistic achievements.
Chu Ci（Elegies of Chu）
Chu Ci，also known as Poetry of the State of Chu or Elegies of chu，was a new style of poetry after The Book of Songs.In the course of its formation，it was influenced by folk songs，music and folk literature of the Chu State，and as a result，it was characterized by a strong local flavor.
Qu Yuan was the central figure of Chu Ci. Witnessing the corruption of his colleagues and the inability of his king, Qu Yuan was rather worried, so he wrote a great number of poems expressing his resentment. Afterwards Qu Yuan went into exile and drowned himself in the Miluo River. The Dragon Boat Festival was set to commemorate him.
“Lament on Encountering Sorrow’ or “Sorrow after Departure”is Qu Yuan’s masterpiece and the most important lyric and romantic poem of Chu Ci. This long poem of over 370 lines with 2400 characters is a romantic lyric poem with measured realism. It reveals the fatuous and self-indulgent king of the Chu Kingdom and describes the poet’s patriotism, his lofty character and his fight against the evil of the Kingdom. This poem has also laid out a cornerstone for Chinese romantic literature. The poet draws much on ancient mythology and utilizes a great deal of exaggeration in portraying characters and describing objects. The assemblage of fairy tales further enhances the poem’s romantic flavor. Metaphors are lavishly laid out in the poem Qu Yuan created a new literary era. His new form and his use of positive romanticism have exerted a lasting influence on Chinese literature.
Yuefu Folk Songs
Yuefu was originally the lMusic Bureau set up in the Han dynasty, responsible for creating music, training musicians and collecting folk songs and ballads. In time, the term Yuefu was estended to include folk songs, ballads or their imitations by literati in the Han sty1e.
The Yuefu folk songs of the Han dynasty reflected the real social life of the time, and they were characterized both by sincere, penetrating ideas and brisk, vivid art form with noticeable vitality. The language was generally siple and unadorned, but full of emotions; the plots are often straightforward and uncomplicated. There was no limitation to sentence structures. Fluency in language made this art form very easy to understand and read with a strong flavor of everyday life. The most outstanding folk song in this period is”Southeast the Peacock Flies”, which is also the earliest long narrative poem in Chinese history. It gives a vivid account of a tragedy of two lovers in a feudal family.
Fo1k Songs of the Northern and Southern Dynasties
After the Han dynasty, Yuefu folk songs developed further until they reached the highest level of achievement in the Southern and Northern dynasties. In the Southern dynasty, the poems were mainly lyrical or love songs, the style being fresh, graceful and restrained.
In the Northern dynasty, the poems reflected, in various aspects, the life of the nomadic people. They were simple in language, and unconstrained and vigorous in style. An example of one reflecting the spirit most fully is “The Ballad of Mulan”, which sings of a girl who disguised herself as a man, joined the army as a replacement for her father and won glory on the battlefield.
Poetry of the Tang dmasty
Chinese poetic tradition reached its peak during the Tang dynasty. In the number of poems and variety of poetic forms, the beauty of imagery and broadness of themes, the Tang poetry surpassed all that had preceded it. The Complete Anthology of the Tang Poetry, edited during the Qing dynasty, contains over 48,900 poens in 12 volumes by more than 2,200 poets.
In the high Tang period, there appeared a whole generation of literary giants. Li Bai and Du Fu are regarded as the twin masters ofthe Tang poetry. Widely praised as the “Immortal of Poems”, Li Bai abounded with passion and talent. Du Fu isrevered as “Sage of the Poems”by the posterity. The other poets in this period can be grouped into two categories: pastoral poets represented by Meng Haoran and Wane Wei and frontier noets renresented by Gao shi and cen sn In the Mid-Tang period, many poets produced numerous excellent poems which forcefully exposed the social vices of their time. Eminent poets are Bai Juyi, Yuan Zhen, Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Meng Jiao and Li He. Bai Juyi was the greatest poet of that period who established his theory of realistic poems in which politics was the main theme and literature mirrored real life with its educational and social fne+;0n.
Poets of the late Tang dynasty fell either to reminiscence and meditation on the past, or to family love or to boudoir. Some of them expressed their delicate sentiments through delicate techniques and wrote some good poems. The most outstanding poems were written by Li Shangyin and Du Mu.
Even today，Chinese people are still very fond of the Tang poetry，many of which can be recited by children.Currently in China，the tag”If you have recited 300 poems of the Tang dynasty，you will be able to intonate them even though you cannot produce them”is still popular.
Ci of the Song dynasty
Ci（Lyric Poetry）is a new form of poetry that sprung up in the Tang dynasty and Five Dynasties Period，which was performed with msic.In the Song dynasty，it came into full flower and grew into the most distinguished poetic form.The Ci poetry was originally a song text set to existing musical tunes which were called tune patterns.These tune patterns for which the poems were coposed came to be viewed as definite verse patterns.The Ci poetry is characterized often by lines of unequal length，in sharp contrast to the regulated verse in strictly five-character or seven-character 1ines.
In the course of its development，many outstanding Ci poets，such as Su Shi，Li Qingzhao，in Qiji and lu You emerged.Liu Yong represented the Soft and Tuneful School（the Delicately Restrained Schoo1），while Su Shi was representative of the Powerful and Free School（the Heroic and Unrestrained Style）of Ci writing.
Opera of the Yuan dynasty
It was after long years of development that the Chinese local opera, Yuan zaju, came into being during the uan dynasty. It is a relatively matured form of opera appropriately integrating nmusic, singing, dancing, performing and speaking. The rise of Yuan zaju made the Yuan dynasty the golden age of Chinese opera. Within less than 100 years, there were more than 200 recorded playwrights and more than.
Guan Hanging was the greatest and most prolific plawwright of the yuan dnasty. He created over 60 plays. of which still exist. Wang Shifu was another renowned playwright of that period. Throughout his whole life, Wang had written altogether 14 plays, of which The West Chamber was considered as the masterpiece in the history of Chinese drama. Like the Tang poetry and Song Ci poetry, Yuan zaju holds a very high position in the history of Chinese literature. In the 18th century, the play The Orphan of the Zhao Family was introduced to Europe and then converted into a play entitled The Orphan of China, catching global attention.
Fiction in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
In a strict sense, the Chinese novel(particularly the long ones) arose rather late. Initially there were myths and legends. Then inthe following period there were tales of the supernatural and the marvelous. Only in the Song dynasty did earliest novels in the colloquial language start to appear in China. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the novels flourished and formed a mighty current in literature. The representative works are Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West,A Dream of Red Mansions and the ghost fiction Strange Tales of Liaozhai. These works enjoy a high reputation throughout the world. What’s more, they have been adapted for the screen and the stage, winning the favor of global audience.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first historical novel in China. Written by Luo Guanzhong, the novel comprises around 70% fact and 30% fiction. In the novel, the author successfully created a number of inpressive characters with different characteristics, such as Zhuge Liang,a superb strategist, cunning and suspicious Cao Cao, loyal and brave Guan Yu, and reckless Zhang Fei, etc. They have become household names among the Chinese. Tales of their exploits, courage, adventures and many more are told in the novel.
Outlaws of the Marsh by Shi Nai’ an is a novel about a peasant rebellion. It describes the rise and fall of the peasant rebellion in the area of Liangshan, uncovering the social reality of a rebellion of civilians forced by persecution of officials. The novel successfully depicts 108 heroes and heroines (105 men and 3 women) and lauds their dauntless acts.
Pilgrim to the West, which is widely acknowledged as the most brilliant Chinese mythological novel, was written by Wu Cheng’ en in the mid Ming dynasty. The novel tells the story of how Xuan Zang,a Buddhist monk of the Tang dynasty, endures countless difficulties imposed by various monsters and demons, and finally gets to the West assisted by his three disciples: Sun Wukong (Monkey King), Pigsy and Friar Sha. The Monkey King is the most brilliant figure in the novel, who loves freedom and has a fighting spirit. The novel is full of fantasies that indicate the author’s abundant imagination.
ADrean of Red Mansions is considered as China’s most famous and greatest novel. The author was Cao Xueqin, one of the great litterateurs of the Qing dynasty. Through a tragedy of romance between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, the novel gives an account of the history of a feudal clan from its heyday to its final collapse. There are more than 400 characters vividly depicted in the novel. With its fascinating scenario and superb language,A Drean of Red Mansions has reached the zenith of the Chinese classic novels, and holds an iportant position in the history of world literature.
