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Chinese Literature
Begins with the Shih Ching or Book of Songs
Shih Ching
An anthology of 305 lyrics of various types, compiled 600B.C.
Most of the songs probably composed and sung between 1000 and 700 B.C., mostly at
Chou court ceremonies
Written Chinese
Emerged in its embryonic form of carved symbols approximately 6,000 years ago
Tang Dynasty
This is the dynasty when the widespread woodblock printing introduced
Bi Sheng
The inventor of movable type printing during the Song Dynasty
CLASSICAL TEXTS
FIVE CLASSICS
The I Ching
A manual of divination based on eight trigrams attributed to the mythical emperor Fu Xi
This is still used by adherents of folk religion
The Classic of Poetry
Is made up of 305 poems divided into 160 folk songs; 74 minor festal songs, traditionally
sung at court festivities; 31 major festal songs, sung at more solemn court ceremonies; an
40 hymns and eulogies, sung at sacrifices t gods and ancestral spirits of the royal house
The Record of Rites
Is a recreation of the Original Classic of Rites, which was lost in the Imperial book purge
It describes ancient rites and court ceremonies
The Classic of History
A collection of documents and speeches allegedly written by rulers and officials of the
early Zhou period and before. It contains the best examples of early Chinese Prose
The Spring and Autumn Annals
A historical record of Confucius’ native state, Lu, from 722 to 479 BCE
THE FOUR BOOKS
Analects of Confucius
A book of pithy sayings attributed to Confucius and recorded by his disciples
Mencius
A collection of political dialogues
Doctrine of the Mean
A book that teaches the path of Confucian virtue
Great Learning
A book about education, self-cultivation and the Dao
Classical Chinese poetry
Is that type of poetry that is the traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese. It
is typified by certain traditional forms, or modes, and certain traditional genres. Its
existence is documented as early as the publication of the Classic of Poetry, dating from a
traditionally, and roughly, estimated time of around BCE 500, in what is now China, but
at that time was composed of the state of Zhou and various other independent states, such
as Chu.
Many or most of these were developed by the end of the Tang Dynasty, in CE 907. Use
and development of Classical Chinese poetry actively continued up to until the May
Fourth Movement, in 1919, and is not totally extinct even today in the Twenty-first
Century.
Su Shi (1037–1101), a famous Song Dynasty poet and statesman.
Formal Elements
• Scansion
Various factors are considered in scanning Classical Chinese verse in order to determine
the meter.
• Meter
Counting the number of syllables (which could be read as varying lengths, according to
the context), together with the caesuras, or pauses within the line, and a stop, or long
pause at the end of the line, generally established the meter. The characters (or syllables)
between the caesuras or end stops can be considered to be a metric foot. The caesuras
tended to both be fixed depending upon the formal rules for that type of poem and to
match the natural rhythm of speech based upon units of mean spanning the characters.
• Line length
Line length could be fixed or variable, and was based on the number of
syllables/characters. In more formal poetry it tended to be fixed, and varied according to
specific forms. Lines were generally combined into couplets. Lines tended to be endstopped; and, line couplets almost always. Line length is the fundamental metrical
criterion in classifying Classical Chinese poetry forms.
• Couplets
Most Classical Chinese verse consists of multiple couplets or pairs of lines, which are
considered to be somehow especially related to each other by such considerations as
meaning, tone-structure, parallelism.
• Poem length
Because of the tendency to write poetry as groups of couplets, most poems had an even
number of lines. Generally four lines (two couplets) were considered to be the minimum
length for a poem. In the case of curtailed-verse (jueju), the poem was limited to this
length. Other types of poems were limited to eight lines (four couplets). If the over all
length of some form of poetry was not limited, then that the poems tended to be written
using four or eight line stanzas, and thus the poem lengths would accordingly work out to
multiples of four or eight.
• Tone
The existence of tone in Old through early Tang Chinese is debatable. Certainly by the
major period of poetic flourishing in Tang, syllable tones were divided into level an notlevel. These variations were or became an important aspect of poetry, sometimes in an
esoteric way. The presence or absence of formal tonal constraints varies according to the
poetic form of a specific poem. Sometimes it was quite strict, as in the case of Regulated
Verse.
• Rhythm
Rhythm was mostly a matter of tonal variation, line length, caesuras within lines, and end
stopping. Variations of rhythm were subtly played off in between the various lines within
a poem.
• Rhyme
Rhyme, or rime, was important in some forms of poetry. However, it was often based on
a formal and traditional schema, such as is in Rime table or rime dictionary, and not
necessarily upon actual vernacular speech. Also, generally level tones only rhymed with
level tones, and non-level tones with non-level tones. The original rhymes of a poem can
be difficult to detect, especially in Modern Mandarin Chinese pronunciation (including
tone) tends to be quite different than in the older, historical types of Chinese language.
• Vocabulary
Certain restrictions or associations of particular words were often typical of certain poetic
forms, and for some forms of poetry there were rules restricting or encouraging the
repetition of the same word within a poem, a stanza, or a line or couplet. Sometimes a
deliberately archaic or traditional poetic vocabulary was used. Often the use of common
words such as pronouns and "empty words" like particles and measure words were
deprecated. Certain standard vocabulary substitutions were standard where a certain word
would not fit into the metrical pattern.
Classical prose
Early prose
Early Chinese prose was deeply influenced by the great philosophical writings of the
Hundred Schools of Thought (770-221 BCE). The works of Mo Zi (墨子), Mencius
(孟子) and Zhuang Zi (莊子) contain well-reasoned, carefully developed discourses that
reveal much stronger organization and style than their predecessors. Mo Zi's polemic
prose was built on solid and effective methodological reasoning. Mencius contributed
elegant diction and, like Zhuang Zi, relied on comparisons, anecdotes, and allegories. By
the third century BCE, these writers had developed a simple, concise and economical
prose style that served as a model of literary form for over 2,000 years.
Later prose
During the Tang period, the ornate, artificial style of prose developed in previous periods
was replace by a simple, direct, and forceful prose based on examples from the Hundred
Schools and from the Han period, the period in which the great historical works of Sima
Tan and Sima Qian were published. This neoclassical style dominated prose writing for
the next 800 years. It was exemplified in the work of Han Yu 韓愈 (768–824), a master
essayist and strong advocate of a return to Confucian orthodoxy; Han Yu was later listed
as one of the "Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song."
Some contributors
Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song (唐宋八大家)
• Han Yu (韓愈，韩愈)
• Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元)
• Ouyang Xiu (歐陽修，欧阳修)
• Su Zhe (蘇轍，苏辙)
• Su Shi (蘇軾，苏轼)
• Su Xun (蘇洵，苏洵)
• Wang Anshi (王安石)
• Zeng Gong (曾鞏，曾巩)
Two great scientific authors from the Song period:
• Shen Kuo (沈括) (1031–1095)
• Su Song (蘇頌，苏颂) (1020–1101)
Ming Dynasty
• Song Lian (宋濂) (1310–1381)
• Liu Ji (劉基，刘基) (1311–1375)
• Jiao Yu (焦玉)
• Gui Youguang (歸有光，归有光) (1506–1571)
• Yuan Hongdao (袁宏道) (1568–1610)
• Xu Xiake (徐霞客) (1586–1641)
• Gao Qi (高啟，高启)
• Zhang Dai (張岱，张岱)
• Tu Long (屠隆)
• Wen Zhenheng (文震亨)
Qing Dynasty
• Fang Pao (方苞) (1668–1749)
• Liu Dakui (劉大櫆，刘大魁) (1698–1779)
• Yao Nai (姚鼐) (1731–1815)
• Yuan Mei (袁枚) (1716–1798)
• Gong Zizhen (龔自珍，龚自珍) (1792–1841)
• Wei Yuan (魏源) (1794–1857)
Chinese Classic Novels
The Four Great Classical Novels, or the Four Major Classical Novels of Chinese
literature, are the four novels commonly counted by scholars to be the greatest and most
influential of classical Chinese fiction.
The works are considered to be the pinnacle of China's achievement in classical novels,
influencing the creation of many stories, theater, movies, games, and other entertainment
throughout East Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. They are:
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms (14th century) more recently translated as, simply,
Three Kingdoms.
• Water Margin also known as Outlaws of the Marsh (14th century).
• Journey to the West (16th century).
• Dream of the Red Chamber also known as The Story of the Stone, (18th century).
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Many fans consider it the greatest novel ever written This is a historical fiction about
events occurring around 150AD when the ruling Han dynasty was crumbling and China
was divided into three competing kingdoms. This is a fascinating novel about military
supremacy, a real life game of Risk played with the whole of China as the game board.
There are many encounters between fierce warriors, brilliant military strategies, and
suspenseful intrigues but ultimately the novel is about human motivation, loyalty, and
greed for power.
• Water Margin
One of the four classic novels of Chinese literature, this one is called a Robin Hood story
because it tells the exploits of a group of outlaws who steals from corrupt officials to give
to the poor. However, I find more like the "Justice League" of DC Comics. Except that
there are 108 superheroes. But not to worry. They do not all appear at once. In fact the
book is about how the bandits get together and join the group one at a time or in small
groups to escape some injustice perpetrated by corrupt officials.
• Journey to the West
This is another of the four classic novels of Chinese literature. Narrates the pilgrimage of
Tripitaka, a real-like Tang dynasty monk who traveled to India in search of Buddhist
sutras. His companions include Monkey, Pigsy and Friar Sand, three supernatural but
flawed heroes who protect the monk from evil monsters in the ultimate road trip.
Monkey, or Sun Wukong, has become a favorite character of Chinese acrobatic operas
because of his fantastic powers, agility, wit, and irreverence.
• Dream of the Red Chamber
This is the other contender for best novel ever written. The story is about Jia Baoyu, a
teen boy from a rich and powerful family who lives in an idyllic garden surrounding by
his female cousins and maids. Baoyu is hopelessly in love with his cousin Lin Daiyu but,
unbeknownst to either of them, Baoyu is tricked into marrying another cousin. The book
has a very large cast of characters but each of them, including the many maids, is
developed with great attention to detail. Volumes have been written around the hidden
symbolism in the novel (such as the two girl cousins representing different aspects of the
ideal woman). Traditional fans have been women because of the subject matter but it is a
great romantic novel for everyone who has ever had a childhood crash.
Chinese Fiction
Fiction in classical literature originated in the Tang Dynasty and lasted until the Song
Dynasty, ‘Hua Ben’ as the draft or records of actors became popular. This was the
rudiment of fiction and the use of the vernacular catered for ordinary people. In the Yuan
Dynasty, novels had chapters and greater attention was attached to the detail depicted. At
the peak of the development of fiction, Four Famous Classical Chinese Literatures were
born in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)