CHINESE LITERATURE autonomous regions, 4 municipalities, and 2 Special
Administrative Regions
 The flag of the People's Republic of China
(‘Fivestar Red Flag') is a red field with a large
yellow five-pointed star and four smaller yellow
five pointed stars (arranged in a vertical arc toward
the middle of the flag) in the upper hoist-side
corner.
The red color symbolizes the communist
revolution. Red is also the traditional color in
Chinese culture.
Golden yellow is the official color of the Manchu
dynasty and is very dear to Chinese people. Yellow
also implies that China belongs to the Chinese
people, a "yellow race”.
 The large star represents the Communist Party.
The four smaller stars represent the four social
classes of the traditional Chinese society - the
working class, the peasantry, the urban petty
bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie
(capitalists) - united under the Communist Party of
China. Five 5-pointed stars reflects the importance
of the number five in Chinese philosophy (The
number 5 is associated with the five elements -
Water, Fire, Earth, Wood, and Metal - and hence, it
was historically associated with the Emperor of
China).
Han Chinese ( 93.3%) 55 ethnic groups
 Miao
 li
 Mongolian
Official Language: Standard Mandarin Chinese
Religions and Beliefs: Buddhism, Confucianism,
Taoism, Islam, Atheism, Catholicism, Protestantism
Currency and Monetary Unit: Renminbi/ Yuan
Administrative Demarcations: 23 provinces, 5
DYNASTIES
1. Shang Dynasty (about 1700-1050 BC)
 Development of Chinese Writing
 The first dynasty for which there is historical
record and archaeological evidence is the Shang
Dynasty.
 It was a small empire in northern central China.
No documents from that country survive, but
there are archaeological finds of hieroglyphic
writing on bronze wares and oracle bones.
 The hieroglyphic writing system later evolved
into ideographic and partly-phonetic Chinese
characters.
2. Zhou Dynasty (1045-255 BC)
Basic Philosophical and Religious Literature
 Their dynasty lasted for about 800 years.
 The great literary works of philosophy and
religion that became the basis for Chinese religious
and social belief stem from what is called the Spring
and Autumn Period (770-476) and the Warring
States Period (475-221).
 Taoism, Confucian literature, and other
prominent religious and philosophical schools all
emerged during these periods.
3. Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
Literary Disaster and Legalism
 This Dynasty had big armies and conquered the
others.
 Once the Ch'in emperor had control, he wanted
to keep it, and they squelched any opposition to his
authority.
 A big philosophical and religious school then
was called Mohism.
 An early form of Buddhism was also established
in China at that time, but their temples and literature
were destroyed and even less is known about them.
4. Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)
Scientific and Historical Texts
 The Han Dynasty era lasted for 400 years.
 At the beginning of the era, Confucianism was
revived. Confucian texts were rewritten and
republished.
 The resulting ideology was the official ideology
of the Han Dynasty and influenced political
thinking afterwards.
 The era's major contributions were historical
texts and scientific works.
5. Tang Dynasty (618-907)
Early Woodblock Printing and Poetry
 The Tang Dynasty had a big empire that
benefited from trade with the west along the Silk
Road, battled with the Tibetan Empire, and
experienced the growing influence of organized
Buddhist religions.
 This era's main contribution to Chinese literature
was in the poetry of Dufu, Li Bai and many other
poets. Dufu and Li Bai are often thought of as
China's greatest poets.
6. Song Dynasty (960-1279)
Early Woodblock Printing, Travel Literature,
Poetry, Scientific Texts and the Neo-Confucian
Classics
 Military technology greatly advanced. They
traded little with the west due to the presence of
warring Muslim states on the old trade routes.
 There wasn't territorial expansion, but the empire
was continuously attacked by nomadic tribes and
countries around them.
 So the era is divided into two eras called the
Northern Sung (960-1127) and Southern Sung
(1127-1279) eras.
7. Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) - Novels
 The Chinese rebelled against the Mongols, and
the Ming Dynasty era began about 1368.
 One of the four great classics called Journey to
the West about a monk going to India was written
during this time of isolation.
 Novels were the era's main contribution.
8. Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)
Drama and Great Fictional Novels
The Mongols established the very rich Yuan
Dynasty.
 The Mongols were nomadic people who herded
cattle north of the Tang Empire and wandered over
a large area fighting on horseback.
 It was a big empire with high technology, a big
population and a big army.
 It was an era of some historically renowned
dramatic playwrights and novelists who wrote in
vernacular language.
INTRODUCTION
 To many Westerners, Chinese literature remains
a hidden seam in the rich strata of Chinese culture.
As a matter of fact, it is a treasure of a very
considerable number of brilliant and profound
works as each dynasty, in the long history of China,
has passed down its legacy of magnificent events
and works.
 For 3500 years, the Chinese 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.
Famous works in Chinese literature:
1. Tao Te Ching
2. The Art of War
3. Tang Poems
4. The Analects
5. Doctrine of the Mean
6. The Great Learning
7. Classic of Filial Piety
1. Tao Te Ching ~ Lao-tzu
“Always without desire, we must be found,
'If its deep mystery we would sound;
But if desire always within us be,
Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.”
– Tao Te Ching
2. Art of War ~ Sun Tzu
“Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor
damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure
spent, other chieftains will spring up to take
advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however
wise, will be able to avert the consequences that
must ensue."
3. Tang Poems
“How beautiful she looks, opening the pearly
casement,
And how quiet she leans, and how troubled her
brow is!
You may see the tears now, bright on her cheek,
But not the man she so bitterly loves."
Li Bai, A Bitter Love.
4. The Analects ~Confucius
• "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to
others."
• "To study without thinking is futile. To think
without studying is dangerous"
• "Your faults define you. From your very faults
one can know your quality”
• "A gentleman should be slow to speak and
prompt to act."
• "The fact remains that I have never seen a man
who 'loved virtue as much as sex”
• "Demand much from yourself, little from others,
and you will prevent discontent."
• "If there is one word that could guide one's entire
life, it is reciprocity."
5. The Doctrine of the Mean ~ Confucius
“While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger,
sorrow, or joy, the mind may be said to be in the
state of Equilibrium. When those feelings have been
stirred, and they act in their due degree, there ensues
what may be called the state of Harmony. This
Equilibrium is the great root from which grow all
the human acting in the world, and this Harmony is
the universal path which they all should pursue."
6. The Great Learning ~ Confucius
“Things being investigated, knowledge became
complete.
Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts
were sincere.
Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then
rectified.
Their hearts being rectified, their persons were
cultivated.
Their persons being cultivated, their families were
regulated.
Their families being regulated, their states were
rightly governed.
Their states being rightly governed, the whole
kingdom was made tranquil and happy."
Ching, The Book of Changes
 This famous system of 64 hexagrams plus their
commentaries and transformations is at the root of
Chinese thought. ~ Tr. Wilhelm (en, fr).
Reading Chinese Literature
 The main disadvantage of written Chinese is the
great number of characters it contains: Even basic
reading and writing require a knowledge of more
than 1,000 characters. This has often made it
difficult to spread the skills of reading and writing
into certain areas of the country. But even with this
disadvantage, Chinese has been a potent factor in
shaping and maintaining a cultural continuity for
millions of people.
The Splendor of Chinese Literature
• Chinese literature can be used as an escape into a
beautiful world and time, a guide to virtuous living,
and a historical map through images
philosophy.
• The analects was written and compiled within a
century after Confucius' death (d. 473) by
Confucius first and second generation pupils.
• During Warring state period (476 BC - 221 BC)
the text was completed
• Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) the book was
widely known and transmitted throughout China in
a mostly complete form.
• Some scholars have proposed dates as late as 140
BC for the text's compilation.
Liu Xiang (Han Dynasty Scholar) two versions of
the Analect:
1. Lu version contains 20 chapters
2. Qi version contains 22 chapters, including
chapters that are not found in the Lu version
• Both versions had in common; the Lu version had
more passages. Each version had its own masters,
scholars, and transmitters.
and
Emperor Cheng of Han, Zang Yu (d. 5 BC)
• synthesize the Lu and Qi version by taking the Lu
version as authoritative and selectively adding
sections from the Qi version, and produced a
composite text of the Analects known as the "Zhang
Hou Lun".
• This text was recognized by Zhang Yu's
contemporaries and by subsequent Han scholars as
superior to either individual version, and is the text
that is recognized as the Analects today.
• Before the late twentieth century the oldest
existing copy of the Analects known to scholars was
found in the "Stone Classics of the Xinping Era", a
copy of the Confucian classics written in stone in
the old Eastern Han dynasty.
• Archaeologists have since discovered two
handwritten copies of the Analects that were written
around 50 BC, during the Western Han dynasty.
• They are known as the "Dingzhou Analects", and
the "Pyongyang Analects"

Emperor Jing of Han (r. 157 – 141 BC)
• Third version (the "old text version") it was hidden
in a wall of the home then believed to be Confucius
when the home then believed to be Confucius when
the home was in the process of being destroyed by
King Gong of Lu (r. 153-128 BC) to expand the
king's palace.
• The new version did not contain the two extra
chapters found in the Qi version, but it split one
chapter found in the Lu and Qi version in two, so it
had twenty-one used chapters, and in order of the
chapters was different.
• The old text version got its name because it was
written in a character system not used since the
earlier Warring State period (i.e. before 221 BC),
when it was assumed to have been hidden.
• Huan Tan scholar of Han Dynasty, the old text
version had four hundred characters different from
the Lu version (from which the received text of the
Analects is mostly based), and it seriously differed
from the Lu version in twenty-seven places. Of
these twenty-seven differences, the received text
only agrees with the old text version in two places.
A. Dingzhou Analects - was discovered in 1973,
but no transcription of its contents was published
until 1997.
B. Pyongyang Analects - was discovered in 1992.
Academic access to the Pyongyang Analects has
been highly restricted, and no academic study on it
was published until 2009.
A. Dingzhou Analects
• was damaged in a fire shortly after it was
entombed in the Han dynasty.
• It was further damaged in an earthquake shortly
after it was recovered, and the surviving text is just
under half the size of the received text of the
Analects. Of the sections that survive
• It shorter than the received Analects, implying that
the text of the Analects was still in the process of
expansion when the Dingzhou Analects was
entombed. There was evidence that "additions" may
have been made to the manuscript after it had been
completed, indicating that the writer may have
become aware of at least one other version of the
Analects and included "extra" material for the sake
of completeness.
B. Pyongyang Analects
• is similar to the Dingzhou Analects; but, because
of the secrecy and isolationism of the North Korean
government, only a very cursory study of it has
been made available to international scholars, and
its contents are not completely known outside of
North Korea.
• Scholars do not agree about whether either the
Dingzhou Analects or the Pyongyang Analects
represent the Lu version, the Qi version, the old text
version, or a different version that was independent
of these three traditions.
Analects Of Confucius:
Analects (Lunyu)
1. simplified Chinese:
2. traditional Chinese:
Lún Yữ; literally "Selected Sayings” also known as
the Analects of Confucius, is the collection of
sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese
philosopher Confucius and his contemporaries.
 Do not do unto others what you don't want others
do to you.
 Men are born pretty much alike, but through
their habits they gradually grow further and further
apart from each other.
 To know what you know and know what you
don't know is the characteristics of one who knows.
 It is easy to be rich and not haughty; it is difficult
to be poor and not grumble.
 Do not worry people about not knowing you, but
strive so that you may be worth knowing.
 If a man would be severe towards himself and
generous toward others, he would never arouse
resentment.
 A man who does not think a plan long ahead will
find trouble right by his door.
 To repay evil with kindness is the sign of a
generous character. To repay kindness with evil is a
sign of criminal.
 When you see good man, try to emulate his
example, and when you see bad man, search
yourself for his faults.
Don't criticize other people's fault; criticize your
own.
 The superior man is always candid and at ease
(with himself or others): the inferior man is always
worried about something.
 A gentleman is ashamed that his words are better
than his deeds.
 Reading without thinking gives one a disorderly
mind, and thinking without reading makes one
flighty.
 That type of scholarship which is bent on
remembering things in order to answer people's
questions does not qualify one to be a teacher.
JAPANESE LITERATURE
Japanese Writing System the Modern Japanese
writing system uses:
 Kanji, ideographs from Chinese characters,
 Kana, a pair of syllabaries, consisting of
Hiragana, used for native Japanese words,
and · Katakana, used for foreign loanwords
and sometimes to replace kanji or hiragana
for emphasis.
The Period of Japanese Literature
 Ancient Literature
 Classical Literature
 Medieval Literature
  Modern Literature ·  Tale of the Heike, an epic account of the
 Edo Period struggle between two clans for control of
 Meiji Period Japan at the end of the twelfth century.

 Post-War Japan
 Contemporary Literature

Ancient Literature Two of the oldest Japanese

literature:
 Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matter) relates
to the creation of the world, describes the
gods and goddess of the mythological
period, and contains facts about ancient
Japan
 Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan) tells the
history of Japan in poetry and shows the
profound influence of Chinese.
The Heian Period, referred to as the golden
era of Japanese art and literature.
 Man’yoshu (Collection of Myriad Leaves)
Edo Period
The oldest collection of Japanese poetry
 The Tokugawa Period is commonly referred
collected in the year 800
to as the Edo Period. The capital of Japan
 Genji Monogatari(The Tale of Genji) written
moved from Kyoto to Edo (modern Tokyo)
by court lady named Murasaki Shikibu is
Scholarly work continued to be published in
considered the pre-eminent masterpiece of
Chinese, which was the language of the
Heian fiction and the first example of a work
learned much as Latin was in Europe
of fiction in the form of a novel.
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, a kabuki
dramatist, known as the Japan's Shakespeare
Many genres of literature made their début
during the Edo Period, helped by a rising
literacy rate among the growing population
of townspeople, as well as the development
of lending libraries.

Medieval literature
 Japan experienced many civil wars which
led to the development of a warrior class,
and subsequent war tales, histories, and
related stories.
 Work from this period is notable for its
insights into life and death, simple lifestyles,
and Seppuku
Edo Period
The importation of Chinese vernacular fiction that
proved the greatest outside influence on the
development of Early Modern Japanese fiction. · In Japanese fiction, plot development and action
Genres included horror, crime stories, morality have often been of secondary interest to emotional
stories, comedy, and pornography-often issues. In keeping with the general trend toward
accompanied by colorful woodcut prints. reaffirming national characteristics, many old
Meiji Period themes re-emerged, and some authors turned
The Meiji period marks the re-opening of Japan to consciously to the past.
the West, and a period of rapid industrialization.
The introduction of European literature brought free Japanese Drama
verse into the poetic repertoire. It became widely Noh plays the national theatre of Japan, which was
used for longer works embodying new intellectual originally reserved for the nobility. Legend says that
themes. · Young Japanese prose writers and the Noh dance was invented by the gods.
dramatists struggled with a whole galaxy of new Joruri play a puppet play or doll theatre wherein the
ideas and artistic schools, but novelists were the dolls are beautifully made and life-like in size.
first to assimilate some of these concepts Kabuki the play for the masses. It is less intellectual
successfully. and more realistic, even sensational.

Meiji Period
War-time Japan saw the début of several authors
best known for the beauty of their language and
their tales of love and sensuality. · Kawabata
Yasunari, for his narrative mastery, which with
great sensibility expresses the essence of the
Japanese mind" became Japan's first winner of the
Nobel Prize for Literature.

Post-War and Contemporary Literature

World War II, and Japan's defeat, deeply influenced
Japanese literature. Many authors wrote stories of
disaffection, loss of purpose, and the coping with
defeat.
Prominent writers of the 1970s and 1980s were
identified with intellectual and moral issues in their Japanese Poetry
attempts to raise social and political consciousness. Tanka (5-7-5-7-7) It is a five line poem. The first
Modern Japanese writers covered a wide variety of and third lines have five syllables each and the
subjects, one particularly Japanese approach others seven, making a total of thirtyone syllables
stressed their subjects' inner lives, widening the per poem.
earlier novel's preoccupation with the narrator's Haiku (5-7-5) It is a seventeen-syllable poem of
consciousness. three lines arranged in lines of five-seven-five.
Tanka
A cool wind blows in with a blanket of silence.
Straining to listen for those first few drops of rain,
The storm begins in earnest.

Haiku
Autumn moonlight a worm digs silently into the
chestnut.
Haiku A form of minimalist Japanese poetry
Theme: Nature or Seasons
Attempts to be deep or compare two unlike things
Consists of 3 lines and a certain number of syllables
per line.
Haiku has 5-7-5 syllabic structure.

Japanese Haiku the first cold shower even the

monkey seems to want a little coat of straw. old
pond (fu/ru/i/ke ya) a frog jumps (ka/wa/zu
to/bi/ko/mu) the sound of water (mi/zu no o/to) --
both by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Kabuki Developed around 1600's Stories based on

folklore, history Highly stylized make up Appeals
to middle class audience that often yells during
performance Bountiful and exaggerated.

Contemporary Influence of Kabuki & Noh 2002

2000 Japanese anime (cartoons) and manga (comic
books) Costume / make up design for modern
movies (such as Star Wars).