Chinese literature - Classical texts, Classical Poetry, Classical Prose, Novels, Modern, Overseas Chinese Literature, Chinese Islamic literature, Others

The literature of China goes back 3000 years. The earliest works under the Zhou dynasty (1028–256 BC) were the Nine Classics, an admixture of history, poetry, ethics, and commentary on ritual and divination, used by Confucius in his teachings. Closely associated are the 20 books of Confucius's own Analects, and the Mencius by a disciple. Late in the Zhou dynasty we have the ‘Hundred Schools of Thought’, and the poetry of Qu Yuan, whose lyrical and allegorical Li Sao influenced poets in the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220). The introduction of Buddhism into China at this time enhanced the popularity of personal poetry, exemplified by the work of the Cao family; and the political instability of the Six Dynasties that followed (221–581) further encouraged an ‘escapist’ or idealist literature. The following Tang dynasty (618–907) is known as the Golden Age of Chinese Poetry, providing 2000 poets from all ranks of society, the best known being the Taoist Li Po (701–62), his friend the Confucian Du Fu (712–70), Li Ho (‘the Chinese Keats’, 790–816), and the populist Bo Juji (772–846). At the same time, Han Yu (768–824) replaced the elaborate ‘parallel prose’ of earlier dynasties with a more flexible medium. The poetry of the Song dynasty (960–1216) was likewise more versatile than Tang; Su Shi and others experimenting with irregular metres. This period also produced a good deal of historical writing. The Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) was celebrated for its musical drama, a form favoured by the Mughal ruling class, with Ma Zhiyuan's Autumn in the Han Palace typical of their plots from legend and romance.

There were developments in drama in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), with plays of historical and political significance; but this was primarily the age of the Chinese novel. Developing out of the hua-pen or short story, the earlier novels often dealt with historical and heroic subjects; famous examples are The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and The Water Margin. The personalized novel arrived with the last, Qing dynasty (1644–1912), new ground being broken by Cao Xuequin's partly autobiographical The Dream of the Red Chamber. This was followed by satirical works (often directed at the abuses of bureaucracy) and fine examples of the ever-popular ghost story. After 1911, Western influence completely transformed Chinese literature, which experienced its own force-fed modernist movement before Mao Zedong imposed a new discipline and encouraged folk art. The Cultural Revolution of 1966 was hostile to outside influences, but there are now signs that Chinese literature is in creative dialogue with the rest of the world.

Classical texts

China has a wealth of classical literature, both poetry and prose, dating from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BCE) and including the Classics, whose compilation is attributed to Confucius. The Shujing 書經 (Classic of History or Classic of Documents) is a collection of documents and speeches alleged to have been written by rulers and officials of the early Zhou period and before.

Classical Poetry

Among the earliest and most influential poetic anthologies was the Chuci 楚辭 (Songs of Chu), made up primarily of poems ascribed to the semilegendary Qu Yuan 屈原 (ca.

Classical poetry reached its zenith during the Tang Dynasty (A.D.

Later Tang poets developed greater realism and social criticism and refined the art of narration.

Subsequent writers of classical poetry lived under the shadow of their great Tang predecessors, and although there were many fine poets in subsequent dynasties, none reached the level of this period.

As the ci gradually became more literary and artificial after Song times, the san qu 散曲 , a freer form, based on new popular songs, developed.

List of Chinese language poets

Classical Prose

Early prose

The proponents of the Hundred Schools of Thought in the Warring States Period and Spring and Autumn periods made important contributions to Chinese prose style. By the third century B.C., these writers had developed a simple, concise prose noted for its economy of words, which served as a model of literary form for over 2,000 years.

Later prose

The Tang period also saw a rejection of the ornate, artificial style of prose developed in the previous period and the emergence of a simple, direct, and forceful prose based on Han and pre-Han writing. The primary proponent of this neoclassical style of prose, which heavily influenced prose writing for the next 800 years, was Han Yu 韓愈 (768-824), a master essayist and strong advocate of a return to Confucian orthodoxy.

Vernacular fiction became popular after the fourteenth century, although it was never esteemed in court circles.

List of works

Eight Great Literary Masters of the Tang and Song (Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty) 唐宋八大家 Han Yu 韓愈 Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元 Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 Su Xun 蘇洵 Su Shi 蘇軾 Su Che 蘇轍 Wang Anshi 王安石 Zeng Gong 曾鞏 Ming dynasty Song Lian 宋濂 (1310-1381) Liu Ji 劉基 (1311-1375) Gui Youguang 歸有光 (1506-1571) Yuan Hongdao 袁宏道( 1568-1610) Xu Xiake 徐霞客 (1586-1641) Gao Qi 高啟 Zhang Dai 張岱 Tu Long 屠隆 Wen Zhenheng文震亨 Qing dynasty Fang Pao 方苞 (1668-1749) Liu Dakui 劉大櫆 (1698-1779) Yao Nai 姚鼐 (1731-1815) Yuan Mei 袁枚 (1716-1798) Gong Zizhen 龔自珍 (1792-1841) Wei Yuan 魏源 (1794-1857)

Novels

See List of Chinese language novelists

The Si Da Ming Zhu 四大名著 or the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature: Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢, also known as A Dream of Red Mansions or The Story of the Stone and The Chronicles of the Stone, 石頭記, Shítóu Jì), by 曹雪芹 Cáo Xuěqín Water Margin (水滸傳, also known as All Men Are Brothers and Outlaws of the Marsh), by 施耐庵 Shī Nài'ān Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三國演義) by 羅貫中 Luó Guànzhōng Journey to the West (西遊記), also known as Monkey King and Monkey, by 吳承恩 Wú Chéng'ēn Other Classic Literature: Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (聊齋誌異), by 蒲松齡 Pú Sōnglíng Jin Ping Mei (金瓶梅), by 蘭陵笑笑生 Lánlíng Xiàoxiàoshēng Fengshen Yanyi (封神演義) or The Investiture of the Gods Xing Shi Yin Yuan Zhuan (醒世姻緣傳) or The Story of a Marital Fate to Awaken the World Ru Lin Wai Shi (儒林外史) or The Scholars, by 吳敬梓 Wú Jìngzǐ Dijing jingwu lüe or Survey of Scenery and Monuments in the Imperial Capital, by Liu T'ung The Condor Trilogy: The Legend of the Condor Heroes (射雕英雄傳), by 金庸 Jīnyōng The Return of the Condor Heroes (神雕俠侶), by 金庸 Jīnyōng The Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Saber (倚天屠龍記), by 金庸 Jīnyōng

Modern

In the New Culture Movement (1917-23), literary writing style was largely replaced by the vernacular in all areas of literature.

The late 1920s and 1930s were years of creativity in Chinese fiction, and literary journals and societies espousing various artistic theories proliferated. Among the major writers of the period were Guo Moruo 郭沫若 (1892-1978), a poet, historian, essayist, and critic; Mao Dun 茅盾 (1896-1981), the first of the novelists to emerge from the League of Left-Wing Writers and one whose work reflected the revolutionary struggle and disillusionment of the late 1920s; and Ba Jin 巴金 (1904-2005), a novelist whose work was influenced by Ivan Turgenev and other Russian writers. Many of these writers became important as administrators of artistic and literary policy after 1949.

The League of Left-Wing Writers was founded in 1930 and included Lu Xun 魯迅 in its leadership. After 1949 socialist realism, based on Mao's famous 1942 "Yan'an Talks on Literature and Art," became the uniform style of Chinese authors whose works were published. The ability to satirize and expose the evils in contemporary society that had made writers useful to the Communist Party of China before its accession to power was no longer welcomed.

At the time of the Great Leap Forward, the government increased its insistence on the use of socialist realism and combined with it so-called revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism. Authors were permitted to write about contemporary China, as well as other times during China's modern period--as long as it was accomplished with the desired socialist revolutionary realism. Although authors were encouraged to write, production of literature fell off to the point that in 1962 only forty-two novels were published.

During the Cultural Revolution, the repression and intimidation led by Mao's fourth wife, Jiang Qing, succeeded in drying up all cultural activity except a few "model" operas and heroic stories. Although it has since been learned that some writers continued to produce in secret, during that period no significant literary work was published.

Post-Mao

The arrest of Jiang Qing and the other members of the Gang of Four in 1976, and especially the reforms initiated at the Third Plenum of the Eleventh National Party Congress Central Committee in December 1978, led more and more older writers and some younger writers to take up their pens again. The writers decried the waste of time and talent during that decade and bemoaned abuses that had held China back. At the same time, the writers expressed eagerness to make a contribution to building Chinese society. Intensely patriotic, these authors wrote cynically of the political leadership that gave rise to the extreme chaos and disorder of the Cultural Revolution. The political authorities were faced with a serious problem: how could they encourage writers to criticize and discredit the abuses of the Cultural Revolution without allowing that criticism to go beyond what they considered tolerable limits?

During this period, a large number of novels and short stories were published; These two difficult periods were followed by the campaign against spiritual pollution in late 1983, but by 1986 writers were again enjoying greater creative freedom.

List of modern Chinese writers

王韜 Wang Tao (1828–1897) 嚴復 Yan Fu (1853–1924) 劉鶚 Liu E (1857–1909) 梁啟超 Liang Qichao (1873–1929) 王國維 Wang Guowei (1877–1927) 胡適 Hu Shih (1891–1962) 蘇曼殊 Su Manshu (1894–1918) 魯迅 Lu Xun (1881–1936) 許地山 Xu Dishan (1893–1941) 葉聖陶 Ye Shengtao (1894–1988) 林語堂 Lin Yutang (1895–1976) 茅盾 Mao Dun (1896–1981) 徐志摩 Xu Zhimo (1896–1936) 郁達夫 Yu Dafu (1896–1945) 王統照 Wang Tongzhao (1897–1957) 郭沫若 Guo Moruo (1892–1978) 老舍 Lao She (1897–1966) 朱自清 Zhu Ziqing (1898–1948) 田漢 Tian Han (1898–1968) 豐子愷 Feng Zikai (1898–1975) 聞一多 Wen Yiduo (1899–1946) 冰心 Bing Xin (1900–1999) 巴金 Ba Jin (1905–2005) 沈從文 Shen Congwen (1902–1988) 曹禺 Cao Yu (1905–1996) 錢鍾書 Qian Zhongshu (1910–1988) 何其芳 He Qifang (1912–1977) 林海音 Lin Haiyin (1918–2001) 張愛玲 Eileen Chang (1920–1995) 汪曾祺 Wang Zengqi (1920–1997) 金庸 Jinyong (1924—) 從維熙 Cong Weixi (1933—) 張賢亮 Zhang Xianliang (1936—) 白先勇 Bai Xianyong (1937—) 高行健 Gao Xingjian, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2000 (1940—) 北島 Bei Dao (1949—) 莫言 Mo Yan (1955—) 鐵凝 Tie Ning (1957—) 蘇童 Su Tong (1963—) 吳虹飛 Wu Hongfei (1978—)

Overseas Chinese Literature

You Jin, Singapore

Chinese Islamic literature

Islamic literature in Chinese

Others

Chinese writers writing in English:

Ha Jin