21ST CENTURY LITERATURE
CHINESE LITERATURE
DYNASTY IN CHINA
1. SHANG DYNASTY (1700-1050)
- Development of Chinese writing.
- First dynasty
- Hieroglyphics writing on bronze wares and
oracle bones.
- It evolved into the ideographic and partly
phonetic Chinese characters.
2. ZHOU DYNASTY (1045-225)
- BASIC Philosophical and religious literature.
- Oldest dynasty
- Major literary achievements originated in the
late spring and warring state period.
3. QIN DYNASTY (221-206 B.C.)
- Literary disaster and legalism
 Mohism – big philosophical and
religious school.
 Li Si – Qin emperor who introduced a
writing system and developed into
modern Chinese writing.
 Legalism – philosophical school.
4. HAN DYNASTY (206-220 B.C.)
- Scientific and historical texts.
- Era’s Major Contribution were historical
texts and scientific works.
 Sima Qian – wrote historical records
 Historical Records – major history
concerning the overall history of China from
Shang Dynasty to Han Dynasty.
 Cai Lum – first person in the world to create
writing paper.
5. TANG DYNASTY (618-907)
- Early woodblock printing and poetry.
 Dufu and Li Bai – China’s greatest poets.
 Dufu – one of the greatest realist poets.
 Li Bai – one of the greatest romantic poets.
6. SONG DYNASTY (960-1279)
- Early woodblock [painting. Travel, literature,
poetry, scientific texts and the neo-
Confucian classics.
 5 classics and 4 books (960-1279) –
written in the classical language.
 Shen Kuo and Su Song – both work
scientific treatises.
 Shen – discovered the concepts of true
north and magnetic declination.
 Su Song – famous for his hydraulic-
powered astronomical clock tower.
7. YUAN DYNASTY (279-1336)
- Drama and great fictional novels.
 Guan Hanquing – one of the best
playwrights of the times.
 Mid-Summer Snow – one of the most
popular drama pieces.
 The Romance of the Tree Kingdoms
and Wester Margin – two of the four
greatest chinese in Chinese literature.
 The romance of the western chamber
by Wang Shifu.
8. MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)
- Journey to the Wets by Wu Cheng’en
based on the historical journey of Buddhist
to India.
9. QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)
- Novels and pre-modern literature.
 Manchus – established the last
dynasty.
 The Dream of the Red Chamber – the
last of the china’s four grate classic
novels.
CONFUCIOUS
- A Chinese teacher, edit, politician, and a
philosopher of the spring and autumn period
of Chinese history.
- He is the founder of Confucius influence (an
ethical teaching).
- His philosophy emphasizes personal and
government morality correctness and social
relationship, justice and sincerity.
TAOISM
- Opposite of Confucianism and the most
important religion that encompasses a verity
of tradition and beliefs and spiritual
practices largely based on a teaching
attributed to the buddha.
CHINESE LITERATURE
- Is one of the most major literacy with an
interrupted history and more than 30,000
years, dating back at least to the 14 th
century.
- Among the rhetorical devices employed in
the first poem of The Book of Poetry is the
use of metaphor crying ospreys compared
to the lord and lady, for instance. Following
The Bok of Poetry, highlights the traditional
Chinese literature include The Songs of The
South (Chuci); the prose writings in history
and philosophy of the Qin and Han
Dynasties; Tang poetry; the Song lyric; the
prose of the Tang and Song Dynasties; and
 the short stories, novels, and dramas from
the Tang to Qing Dynasties.
- The modern period of Chinese literature,
which began in 1910s, is even more
abstraction and oversimplification, Chinese
literature is characterized as the expression
of both the heart and the mind, as
concerning the individual and society, as
variously sublime and graceful, and as
blending reality and imagination.
- Traditional Chinese literature developed
under the intellectual influences of
Confucianism, Daoism (Taoism), and
Buddhism. Confucianism preaches
benevolence, righteousness, individual
effort, commitment to society, and
harmony among people.
- Traditional Chinese literature came
under the influence of Christianity in the
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), when Western
missionaries made their way to China. As
music is related to poetry, traditional
Chinese poetry was inevitably influence by
the music of non-Chinese ethnic group who
resided mostly on the Chinese borders. In
general, traditional Chinese literature,
through mainly a product of Chinese
civilization, has absorbed, in its course of
development, certain elements from
cultures other than the Chinese
- Chinese literature in the 20th century made a
dramatic turn to the west. This change
affected not just literature but virtually all
aspects of Chinese culture. To be sure, 20 th
century Chinese literature gas been
receptive to the literary works of such
eastern countries as India and Japan, but
the presence of the west is quite
overwhelming.
- In modern times, Chinese writers have
remained prolific. Through the social impact
of literature many be as monumental as it
was in the past. The Chinese literary
tradition nevertheless prosperous. Notable
names include Mo Yan, a fictioinist who
won the 2021 Novel rize for literature.
Remarkable too were the novels of Yu
Hua, Wang Shuo, and Shi Tieshing, and
the stories of Xiao Sheng, Wang Zenggi,
and Zhang Chenzi.
4 CLASSES OF LITERATURE
1. CLASSICAL LITERATURE (1644-1911)
- Refers to the earliest period and covers
works from 3,000 years ago to the late Qing
Dynasty and is virtually unbroken strands
enduring dynastic changes.
- Written in ancient form of language that is
very different from present day Chinese, it
needs to be carefully studies to be
understood.
2. MODERN LITERATURE – Refers to the
period from Opium War in 1840 to the May
4th movement in 1919.
 Opium War – this is the war between two
wars in the mid-19th century involving Anglo
Chinese dispute over the British.
3. CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE (1919-
1949) – Spanned period from 1919 to the
foundation of modern in 1949 and took on a
new vigor despite the fact that Chinese was
in the checkered and complicated times.
4. PRESENT AGE LITERATURE (1949-
PRESENT) – Evolved since the
establishments of the People’s Republic in
1949 during this time.
- There was a Logjam as a consequence of
the cultural resolution that lasted for near 10
years that era is now long past and now
have a favorable turn events and a great
number of responsible written works.
VOCABULARY
1. ANTHOLOGY – collection of poems or
other pieces of writing.
2. RHETORICAL DEVICES – technique or
type of language that is used by a speaker
or an author for the purpose of evoking a
particular reaction from the listener or
reader or persuading them to think in a
certain way.
3. MULTIFARIOUS – many and various types.
4. VOLUMINOUS – Very lengthy and full.
5. BENEVOLENCE – quality if being well
meaning; kindness.
6. PROLIFIC – productive
POEMS
1. BATTLE
- BY CHU’U YUAN
- TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR WALEY
2. ON THE THRESHING FLOOR, I CHASE
CHICKENS AWAY
- BY YU XIUHUA
- TRANSLATED BY MING DI
 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE
JAPANESE LITERATURE
JAPANESE LITERATURE
- Japanese literature has been influenced
heavily by the Chinese literature from the
ancient period all the way to the Edo
period (1603-1868) which corresponds to
the early modern Japanese literature.
- Japanese literary works also reveal
elements of Indian and later of Western
elements but above all, they reveal a
distinct style which has also greatly
influenced both Eastern and Western
literatures,
JAPANESE LITERATURES
1. ANCIENT LITERATURE
2. CLASSICAL LITERATURE
3. MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
4. MODERN LITERATURE
1. ANCIENT LITERATURE - Ancient literature
in Japan deals primarily with myths and
legends. Tales like the creation of Japan,
wherein the islands came from the
gemstones imbued in the swords of gods
are very prominent during this period. The
celebrated writers during this period are
Ō no Yasumaro, Nihon Shoki, and
Man‘yoshu which wrote based on real
events in the country.
 Ō NO YASUMARO - was a Japanese
nobleman, bureaucrat, and chronicler.
 NIHON SHOKI - The Nihon Shoki ( 日 本 書
紀 ), sometimes translated as The
Chronicles of Japan, is the second-oldest
book of classical Japanese history.
 MAN‘YOSHU - The Man'yōshū is the
oldest extant collection of Japanese
waka (poetry in Classical Japanese),
compiled sometime after AD 759 during the
Nara period.
2. CLASSICAL LITERATURE - The classical
literature in Japan occurred during the
golden age, the Heian period. During this
period, Murasaki Shikibu, one of the
greatest Japanese writers, wrote the
seminal text, Tale of Genji.
- It clearly shows the women in Prince Genji‘s
life and it paints them in their refinements,
talents in the arts, drawing, poetry and the
beauties of nature
- Other notable authors from this period are
Sei Shonagon and Konjaku
Monogatarishu.
 TALE OF GENJI - considered the world’s
first novel, is a very charming and accurate
depiction of the Japanese court during the
Heian period under the reign of Empress
Akiko.
3. MEDIEVAL LITERATURE - History and
literature were intertwined during the
Medieval period due to the influence of the
civil wars and the emergence of the warrior
class. Thus, war tales are very prominent
during this period. Stories like Tale of the
Heike deals with the conflict between two
powerful Japanese clans. Besides war
stories and tales, the popular form of
Japanese poetry, the renga, saw its rise.
4. MODERN LITERATURE - The modern
period also marked the emergence of new
styles of writing. Japanese writers started to
romanticize and tried experimenting with
different genres and subject matters.
PRE-MODERN PERIOD
- Classical literature (koten bungaku),
meaning literature from the earliest times up
to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, is
customarily divided by literary scholars into
four major periods: Jōdai (antiquity),
Chūko (middle antiquity), Chūsei (the
middle ages), and kinsei (the recent
past).
- This method of periodization largely reflects
the traditional terminology employed by
Japanese historians. Jōdai covers
Japanese literary history through the Nara
period (710-794); Chūko is used more or
less synonymously with "literature of the
Heian period," from 794 up to the
establishment of the Kamakura shogunate
in 1192.
- Chūsei takes in the Kamakura (1185-
1333), Muromachi (1336-1573), and
Azuchi-Momoyama (1573-1600) periods,
continuing up to the establishment of the
Tokugawa shogunate in 1603; and kinsei is
most often used to refer to the Edo period
(1603-1867).

PRE-MODERN LITERATURES
1. The Literature of Antiquity (to 974)
2. The Literature of Middle Antiquity (794-
1185)
3. The Literature of the Middle Ages (1185-
1603)
4. The Literature of the Recent Past (1603-
1867)
1. The Literature of Antiquity (to 794)
- Written literature in Japan dates from the
Nara period, although an oral tradition
existed well before that time.
- The work that is usually taken to reveal the
process of change from an oral to a written
tradition and from communal to personal
concerns is the collection of poems known
as the Man'yōshū (The Collection of Ten
Thousand Leaves).
2. The Literature of Middle Antiquity (794-
1185)
- Chinese poetry was supplanted by the waka
(literally, "Japanese poem") as the
preeminent literary form. Imperial collections
of poetry were compiled, and prose works,
most by women, were written in the newly
developed phonetic kana script.
3. The Literature of the Middle Ages (1185-
1603)
- The political turbulence associated with the
Genpei Wars of 1180 to 1185 and the
establishment of the Kamakura bakufu
(1192) gave rise to a literature that both
centered on military exploits and often
expressed disillusion with such exploits.
- Mujō (impermanence, transience)
became a key concept underlying the
literature of this period, although at the
same time groups devoted to the
composition of renga (linked verse) were
turning to literature for the purpose of
seeking pleasure there.
4. The Literature of the Recent Past (1603-
1867)
- The Edo period was characterized by the
growing cultural influence exercised by
samurai and townspeople. The commercial
class in particular benefited from various
economic and technological developments,
the result of which was a great flowering of
culture in the Genroku period (1688-1704).
- The haikai master Matsuo Bashō, the
novelist Ihara Saikaku, and the dramatist
Chikamatsu Monzaemon are all
associated with this enormous outburst of
creative activity.
- The nation's cultural center shifted from the
Kyoto-Osaka region to Edo in the second
half of the eighteenth century, leading to the
production of large quantities of gesaku
(frivolous works) by the writers who
constituted the last literary generation
before the advent of Western influence.
MODERN PERIOD
- The basis for the periodization of modern
literature (kindai bungaku) is gradually
becoming problematic as the "modern"
period grows ever longer. The most
common division is the one based on the
reigns of the emperors who have ruled
since 1868: Meiji (1868-1912), Taishō
(1912-1926), Shōwa (1926-1989), Heisei
(1989-2019), and Reiwa (from 2019).
- The situation is further complicated by the
recent questioning of "modernization" as a
paradigm for constructing Japan's post-Meiji
literary history. The effect all this will
eventually have on literature as it is taught
in the schools is by no means clear at this
point.
MODERN PERIOD LITERATURES
1. MEIJI LITERATURE (1868-1912)
2. TAISHŌ LITERATURE (1912-1926)
3. SHŌWA (1926-1989), HEISEI (1989-
2019), AND REIWA (2019- )
LITERATURE
1. MEIJI LITERATURE (1868-1912)
- The Meiji period was when Japan, under
Western influence, took the first steps
toward developing a modern literature.
- The movement known as Japanese
Naturalism gained prominence with the
publication of Shimazaki Tōson's novel
Hakai (The Broken Commandment, 1906)
and Tayama Katai's short story Futon
(The Quilt, 1907).
- Naturalism predominated on the literary
scene until around 1910, although such
authors as Natsume Sōseki, Mori Ōgai,
and Nagai Kafū were not associated with it
and might even be considered antagonistic
to it.
2. TAISHŌ LITERATURE (1912-1926)
- The intellectual aestheticism of Akutagawa
Ryūnosuke and decadence of Tanizaki
Jun'ichirō characterize this short period, as
do (toward its end) the introduction of
elements of Western literary modernism in
the early work of Yokomitsu Riichi and
Kawabata Yasunari, along with the first
stirrings of proletarian literature. The Great
Kanto Earthquake of 1923 is sometimes
taken as a major cultural divide in this
process.

3. SHŌWA (1926-1989), HEISEI (1989-

2019), AND REIWA (2019- )
LITERATURE
- Proletarian literature was the chief literary
movement of the 1920s, supplemented by
the uniquely Japanese genre of
autobiographical fiction known as the "I
novel" (watakushi shōsetsu or shishōsetsu).

JAPANESE ALPHABET

AIUEO
KA KI KU KE KO
SA SHI SU SE SO
TA CHI TSU TE TO
NA NI NU NE NO
HA HI FU HE HO
MA MI MU ME MO
YA YU YO
RA RI RU RE RO
WA WO NN