Began about 5,000 years ago and has recorded the dreams and visions of their people.

Chinese language- the most ancient ancient still spoken and the oldest written language still used by man. It is monosyllabic and has only one syllable (Ex. NO in English).

It has a tonal language meaning the same word changes in meaning when it is said with an upward or a downward tone or with a high or low tone. There is a great difference between the Chinese language as spoken and as written. The spoken vocabulary is less than the written vocabulary. Chinese Writing does not represent the sounds that compose the spoken word. It is based on ideas, not phonetics (sounds). It is called ideographic. Chinese is written from right to left, in columns from top to bottom.

Chinese recognizes five books that form the foundation of their cultural, political, and traditional life. 1. Book of Changes an outline of prophecy and augury 2. Book of History an outline of history before the time of Confucius

3. Book of Rites an outline of social etiquette 4. Book of Odes an outline of poetry 5. The Spring and autumn Annals
Confucius westernized name of

Kung Fu-tze

Kung proper name tze signifying teacher

Fu signifying revered

1. The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell. 2. The superior man loves his soul; the inferior man his property. 3. The superior man blames himself; the inferior man blames others. 4. Do not worry about people not knowing you, but strive to be worth knowing. 5. Reading without thinking gives one a disorderly mind; thinking without reading makes one flighty.

Island Southeast Asia is the archipelago group that lies south of the Philippines. It is composed of Indonesia (the largest

archipelago in the world), Sabah, Borneo, and Malaysia.

Indonesian Literature has a religious function. The songs or exorcisms were used during critical periods in the life of the people: birth, death, sickness, pregnancy,

rice planting and harvesting, war, head hunting, and drought. In form they are like

the Biblical Psalms. They have no very strict formal pattern.

Orally transmitted prose forms are very varied and include: myths, animal

stories and beast fables, fairy tales, legends, puzzles and riddles, anecdotes, and adventure stories.

One of the earliest references to Indonesia is found in the Ramayana the great Indian epic of the first century AD, which mentions Javadvipa and Saravanadvipa, the island of gold and silver.

Malay Literature in Indonesia consisted chiefly of novels and poetry. The best known poems were in the form of pantum, which consists of four lines written in a romantic bein, the first rhyming with the third and the second with the fourth. They were learned by the heart. The last two lines express a sentiment very familiar to classical urdu poetry. The most important in quantity written literature are the Javanese and Malay

Literature

By the malay and bahasa Indonesian poets Muhammad Yamin, Rustan Effendi, and Sanusi Pani were influenced by the West, in particulaly Dutch. Chairil Anwar was like a burning torch that illuminated Indonesian literature. His poems have been translated into

Dutch, English, and Filipino.

Takdir Alishjobana, editor and one founders of the review Pudjangga Baru (The new writer. His two novels are The Ever Lighted Lamp (1952) and

Unruffled Sails (1938).

Mochtar Lubis, a Magsaysay Memorial Foundation Awardee and an editor of the newspaper Indonesian Raya, is another important writer with an interesting stories about his people.