The Chinese literature has been one of China’s richest heritage.
It is the only country in the world with a literature written in one language for more than 3,000 consecutive years. This continuity results largely from the nature of the written language itself. It is the use of characters, not letters as in Western languages, that is most important in the Chinese language. The characters stand for things or ideas and so, unlike groups of letters, they cannot and need never be sounded. Thus Chinese could be read by people in all parts of the country in spite of gradual changes in pronunciation, the emergence of regional and local dialects, and modification of the characters .
In handwriting or in print, a piece of literature has visual appeal. This has given rise to the great respect that calligraphy enjoys in China, where it has been regarded for at least 16 centuries as a fine art comparable to painting.
China has a very old and rich tradition in literature and the dramatic and visual arts. Early writings generally derived from philosophical or religious essays such as the works of Confucius (551-479 BC) and Lao-tzu (probably 4th century BC). These writings were often about how people should act and how the society and political system should be organized and operated. A strong tradition of historical writing also evolved. After the fall of a dynasty, for example, a grand history of the late dynasty was commissioned and written by scholars in the next dynasty.
In 213 BC, it is believed, the emperor, Shih Huang Ti ordered the burning of all texts that appeared threatening to him. Whether the books were actually burned or simply kept from the people is uncertain. The result was the same: It was necessary during the next dynasty to reconstruct the texts of the Classics.
Two of the greatest poets in all Chinese literature lived during the T'ang Dynasty: Li Po (701-762) and Tu Fu (712-770). Li Po was a romantic who celebrated such things as drinking, friendship, and nature as well as solitude and the passage of time. His work showed a great deal of imagination and a fresh approach to old themes. Tu Fu also celebrated the beauties of nature and bemoaned the passage of time, but he was also a satirist and critic. In `The Army Carts' he condemned the senselessness of war, and in `The Beautiful Woman' he made fun of the luxuriousness of the imperial court. Tu Fu's great reputation in literature comes in part from his expert use of all types of poetic style. His mastery of the regulated verse form was unmatched.
Most Ming literature in both prose and poetry was traditional, imitative, and old-fashioned. Two schools of writing challenged this trend, claiming that literature should change with the age instead of slavishly imitating the past. The influence of these schools did not last long, however.
In native prose fiction two works stand out. P'u Sung-ling (1640-1715) wrote a collection of supernatural tales entitled `Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'. The other is one of the great novels in world literature--`Dream of the Red Chamber', by Ts'ao Chan (1715?-63). Partly autobiographical and written in the vernacular, it describes in sometimes lengthy detail the decline of a powerful family and the ill-fated love between two young people.
A much later novel, `The Travels of Lao Ts'an', by Liu E (1857-1909), was significant because it pointed up the problems inherent in the weakening dynasty, which was soon to be overthrown by revolution. The book was published in 1904-07.
Showing posts with label Chinese literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese literature. Show all posts
Chinese literature
Poems—lyrical poems have been the orthodox genre of the Chinese literature. In the surging Chinese literary flow, the Chinese ancestors selected the concise, reverberating lyric poems as a medium to give vent to their nave sentiments and unsophisticated ideals. The lyric-poem type literary works have become the mainstream of the course of progress of Chinese literature. The lyrical tradition has permeated also the Chinese prose, drama and novel, and has become the common literary consciousness of generations of Chinese literati. So, this can be credited as the foremost characteristic of Chinese literature.
Furthermore, this lyrical characteristic has also permeated other art forms. Poetry has not only dominated the field of literature , but also affected the modeling art , painting, decoration of architecture (e.g. , the couplets put up on the pillars of edifices and the doors of households during the Spring Festival ) , and handicraft . (from the “Complete works of Wen Yiduo”.) At the same time, the Chinese language cannot but be affected by the general background of the Chinese culture. The Chinese philosophy is of the political-ethical type, emphasizing how to behave properly and how to “govern the country”. The Chinese literature emphasizes the behaviors of the people, “how to support the good conduct of the people.” The “Introduction to the Book of Poems” stated. “Nothing is as effective as poetry for commending merits, for moving Heaven and Earth, and for influencing ghosts and deities. The virtuous ancestral kings used poems to encourage proper relations between husbands and wives, filialness of children to parents and to promote ethics, education and good customs.” These words stressed clearly the use of poems in politics and ethics. Liu Xie also said that literature had three social functions, viz, “Literature is good for political teachings.” “Literature is good for recording history.” And “Literature is good for cultivating the moral character.” Liu Die’s words represented the essence of the traditional Chinese literature. The mutual permeation of literature and philosophy often caused the literary men in the ancient days to be at the same time ideologists and statesmen.
This mutual permeation also caused the interdependence between he philosophical and political theories on the one hand, and the methods for creating literary works and for founding the literary schools on the other hand. For instance, realism in literature is often connected with Confucianism as its philosophical basis. Romanticism in literature is based partly on the Doctrine of Master Lao and partly on Buddhism. Both the metaphysical poems and the wandering-deity poems in the Eastern Jin Dynasty emerged under the influence of the Yellow Emperor-Master Lao Doctrine. A number of anti-feudalist novels and dramas emerged in the Ming and Qing Dynasties under the influence of the theories of the left win of the Wan Yangming School. The narrative literature that flourished in the Tan Dynasty emerged under the direct influence of the Buddhist scriptures. Many deity dramas in the Yuan Dynasty derived directly from the Daoist legend. The other art forms also influenced literature very remarkably. The primeval art form in China was a unification of poetry, music and dance. Later although the Chinese classic poetry progressed on the way of independent development, yet it incorporated the vividity of the painting and the fluidity of the music. The Chinese literature also absorbed the multi-perspective method of painting and sculpture to express the characteristics of things. This contributes to the traditions of literary creation and literary appreciation, including depicting the subjective through the perspectives of the objective, and depicting emotions and sentiments through the perspectives of the circumstance. In fine, the unique characteristic of the Chinese culture results from the mutual influences among the various forms of art. It is the aggregation of their different characteristics, which is also the national characteristic of the Chinese literature. .
The Chinese literature “has not only left a mark of its characteristics and its spirit of blending thought and form” (words by Bielinsky), but also is known in the world for their continuity. The Chinese literature surges on like the mighty Yangtze River and gives a lasting artistic charm. It began with primitive legends, and proceeded with the “Book of Poems”. The “Songs of the South” , the essays of the Pre-Qin scholars , the “rhyme prose” of the Han Dynasty , the poems and essays in the Wei-Jin period , the Tang poems , the Song poems , the Yuan dramas and the Ming and Qing novels . In the course of several thousand years, one literary form rose and fell; another literary form loomed and submerged, as a series of successive surges of a flowing river, forming a quite resplendent phenomenon in the history of literature in the world. As there were too many literary forms, only a few most important form are selected for explanation below.
Furthermore, this lyrical characteristic has also permeated other art forms. Poetry has not only dominated the field of literature , but also affected the modeling art , painting, decoration of architecture (e.g. , the couplets put up on the pillars of edifices and the doors of households during the Spring Festival ) , and handicraft . (from the “Complete works of Wen Yiduo”.) At the same time, the Chinese language cannot but be affected by the general background of the Chinese culture. The Chinese philosophy is of the political-ethical type, emphasizing how to behave properly and how to “govern the country”. The Chinese literature emphasizes the behaviors of the people, “how to support the good conduct of the people.” The “Introduction to the Book of Poems” stated. “Nothing is as effective as poetry for commending merits, for moving Heaven and Earth, and for influencing ghosts and deities. The virtuous ancestral kings used poems to encourage proper relations between husbands and wives, filialness of children to parents and to promote ethics, education and good customs.” These words stressed clearly the use of poems in politics and ethics. Liu Xie also said that literature had three social functions, viz, “Literature is good for political teachings.” “Literature is good for recording history.” And “Literature is good for cultivating the moral character.” Liu Die’s words represented the essence of the traditional Chinese literature. The mutual permeation of literature and philosophy often caused the literary men in the ancient days to be at the same time ideologists and statesmen.
This mutual permeation also caused the interdependence between he philosophical and political theories on the one hand, and the methods for creating literary works and for founding the literary schools on the other hand. For instance, realism in literature is often connected with Confucianism as its philosophical basis. Romanticism in literature is based partly on the Doctrine of Master Lao and partly on Buddhism. Both the metaphysical poems and the wandering-deity poems in the Eastern Jin Dynasty emerged under the influence of the Yellow Emperor-Master Lao Doctrine. A number of anti-feudalist novels and dramas emerged in the Ming and Qing Dynasties under the influence of the theories of the left win of the Wan Yangming School. The narrative literature that flourished in the Tan Dynasty emerged under the direct influence of the Buddhist scriptures. Many deity dramas in the Yuan Dynasty derived directly from the Daoist legend. The other art forms also influenced literature very remarkably. The primeval art form in China was a unification of poetry, music and dance. Later although the Chinese classic poetry progressed on the way of independent development, yet it incorporated the vividity of the painting and the fluidity of the music. The Chinese literature also absorbed the multi-perspective method of painting and sculpture to express the characteristics of things. This contributes to the traditions of literary creation and literary appreciation, including depicting the subjective through the perspectives of the objective, and depicting emotions and sentiments through the perspectives of the circumstance. In fine, the unique characteristic of the Chinese culture results from the mutual influences among the various forms of art. It is the aggregation of their different characteristics, which is also the national characteristic of the Chinese literature. .
The Chinese literature “has not only left a mark of its characteristics and its spirit of blending thought and form” (words by Bielinsky), but also is known in the world for their continuity. The Chinese literature surges on like the mighty Yangtze River and gives a lasting artistic charm. It began with primitive legends, and proceeded with the “Book of Poems”. The “Songs of the South” , the essays of the Pre-Qin scholars , the “rhyme prose” of the Han Dynasty , the poems and essays in the Wei-Jin period , the Tang poems , the Song poems , the Yuan dramas and the Ming and Qing novels . In the course of several thousand years, one literary form rose and fell; another literary form loomed and submerged, as a series of successive surges of a flowing river, forming a quite resplendent phenomenon in the history of literature in the world. As there were too many literary forms, only a few most important form are selected for explanation below.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)