Lesson 1

History of Chinese
Literature
To many Westerners, Chinese literature remains a hidden seam in the rich strata of Chinese
culture.
For 3500 years, they have woven a variety of genres and forms encompassing poetry, essays, fiction and drama; each in
its own way reflecting the social climate of its day through the high spirit of art.

Chinese literature has its own values and tastes, its own reigning cultural tradition and its own critical system
of theory.
Main periods of Chinese
Literature
Classical Literature
Novels, poetry and other works began to appear with a theme of
patriotism and a revelation of social ills.
  

Contemporary Literature
This period was distinctive as it brought into being a new and revised literary language, form, content and skills allowing it to
evolve into an independent and open art available to the whole of society.

It attached great attention to people's lives and a future with strong political tendencies.
Present-Age Literature
 This era is now long past and we now have a favorable turn on events and a great number of responsible
writers deepen the literary forms and content. Nowadays literature prospers.

As the Chinese nation is a racial mix of Han people together with 55 other ethnic groups, literature reflects this.
Chinese Literature: Drawing and Displaying the Wisdom
Confucius
 Confucius is the Latin form of the Chinese Kung fu tze

Kung- family name fu- given name tze- master

Became the founder of Chinese literature by putting up together the
materials called “Five Classics”
He was the first person to devote his whole life to learning and teaching for the purpose of transforming and
improving society.

For Confucius the primary function of education was to provide the proper way of training exemplary persons
(junzi), a process that involved constant self-improvement and continuous social interaction.

His reputation as a man of vision and mission spread.

 He mastered of the six arts—ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and arithmetic

He familiarized with the classical traditions, notably poetry and history, enabled him to start a brilliant teaching
 career in his 30s.

He was known as the first teacher in China who wanted to make education broadly available and who was
instrumental in establishing the art of teaching as a vocation, indeed as a way of life.
The ideal hero in Chinese literature is not a man of great strength, but a man who has an excellent memory.

Poetry is the heart of Chinese literature

 Aside from Confucuis, the three great Chinese poets were: Li Po, Tu Fu, Li Po

Drama is also popular in China evident in each town because they have their on theater.
 Reading 1
The Analects of Confucius
Analects are collections of short literary or philosophical extracts.
A plausible tongue and a fascinating expression are seldom associated with true virtue.
Let loyalty and truth be paramount with you. If you have faults, shrink not from correcting
them.
Learning without thought is labor lost. Thought without learning is intellectual death.
In the mourning, it is better to be sincere than to be punctilious
The faults of men are characteristic of themselves. By observing a man’s faults you may infer
what his virtues are.
The commander-in-chief of an army can be carried captive, but the convictions of even the
meanest man cannot be taken from him.
 A youth should be filial at home, respectful abroad. He should be earnest and truthful. He
should overflow in love to all, but cultivate the friendship of the good. Then, whatsoever of
energy may be left to him, he should devote to the improvement of his mind.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER!
KNOW ONE ANOTHER!
RETURN GOOD FOR GOOD; FOR EVIL, JUSTICE.
WHAT YOU WOULD NOT OTHERS DO UNTO YOU, DO NOT DO UNTO THEM.
 Sources:

https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/history-of-chinese-literature.htm#:~:te
xt=Chinese%20literary%20works%20include%20fiction,the%20past%20two%20thousand%20
years.
http://hs2englishliterature.blogspot.com/2010/07/analects-of-confucius.html