The Background of Chinese Literature
Chinese Literature starts to exist in the Shang Dynasty of 1700-1050 BC. The first writing style used in China is hieroglyphs in which it is a writing on bronze wares and oracle bones. Until such time they compose serious literature using a formal written language called Classical Chinese.
Chinese literary works include fiction, Philosophical and religious works, poetry, and scientific writings. There are empires and groups of Kingdoms that lived in different eras that became one of the reasons why Chinese people speak different native languages.
The nine dynasties molded the Chinese literature and were changed as time passed by. Shang Dynasty was conquered by the Zhou Dynasty and it lasted for about 800 years. This became the Spring and Autumn period (770-476) and the Warring States period (475-221) where Taoism, Confucian literature, and other prominent religious and philosophical schools emerged. However, when the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) started, everything turned out into literary disaster and legalism. The emperor wanted to reduce the One Hundred Schools of Thought and destroyed most books all over the empire. Here comes the former peasant leader who overthrew the Qin Empire which is the Han Dynasty. The revival time of Confucianism mixed with the Legalism philosophy of Li Si and Confucian texts were rewritten and republished. This era contributed historical texts and scientific works written by Sima Qian concerning about the overall history of China. Cai Lun (50-121) of the imperial court is the first person to create writing paper in the whole world. The next one is the Tang Dynasty an era of the occurrence of poetry, and the greatest poets named Du Fu and Li Bai. The sixth dynasty is the Song Dynasty which is divided into two eras called the Northern and Southern Song. Chinese began to use technology such as military technology and printing press. Besides, Confucianism became the dominant political philosophy of several empires and Confucian Classics were the Five Classics and the Four Books. Yuan Dynasty came next and it was a big empire with high technology, a big population, and a big army. It was headed by a leader of the Mongol Empire. The shadow puppet plays and dramatic operatic theaters became their entertainment speaking in vernacular language. The Chinese rebelled against the Mongols and Ming Dynasty began about 1368 and was interested in exploration. The last ancient dynasty was the Qing Dynasty where foreign literature and the west became better known. They retained the Neo-Confucian governing system of the Song and Ming eras and near the end of an era, the modernistic literature was developed.
In the modern era, Sun Yat-sen led a revolution that marked the end of Chinese dynasties in which a clan rules an empire. 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 the Confucian lifestyle with a westernized one.
The Little Incident, Lu Hsun, Chinese, 1920
A Country Boy Quits School Lao Hsiang
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