CHIN 260 Introduction to Chinese Civilization: Unit 5

CHINESE LITERATURE AND ARTS

INTRODUCTION
 China is the only country in the world with a literatur
e written in one language for more than 3,000 conse
cutive years.
 This continuity results largely from the nature of the
written language itself. It is the use of characters, no
t letters as in Western languages, that is most impor
tant in the Chinese language
 The main disadvantage of written Chin
ese is the great number of characters i
t contains: Even basic reading and writ
ing require a knowledge of more than
1,000 characters.

 But even with this disadvantage, Chin

ese has been a potent factor in shapin
g and maintaining a cultural continuity
for millions of people.
 China has a very old and rich tradition
in literature and the dramatic and visu
al arts. Early writings generally derived
from philosophical or religious essays
such as the works of Confucius (551-4
79 BC) and Lao-tzu (probably 4th cent
ury BC).

 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.
 China also produced poetry, novels, a
nd dramatic writings from an early dat
e.

 Chinese literature has its own values

and tastes, its own reigning cultural tr
adition and its own critical system of t
heory.
 Drama is another old and important lite
rary form. Chinese drama usually comb
ines vernacular language with music a
nd song and thus has been popular wit
h the common people.

 A variety of popular and standard them

es are presented in Peking Opera, one
of the local operas, which is probably t
he best known of several operatic tradit
ions that developed in China. Chinese
opera is a favorite artistic and cultural
medium
 Early Chinese novels often stres
sed character development and
usually centered on an adventur
e or supernatural happening;

 "Dream of the Red Chamber', pr

obably China's most famous nov
el.
 China's literary tradition continues to t
he present, though much 20th-centur
y writing has concentrated on efforts t
o reform or modernize China.

 For 3500 years, they have woven a v

ariety of genres and forms encompas
sing poetry, essays, fiction and drama
;
FORMS OF LITERATURE

1. Poetry (Shi, Ci, Modern, Misty)

2. Prose (History records, prose, modern prose

3. Fictions and novels

4. Drama and Opera

POETRY
 In ancient China, people had profuse feelings to express whe
n historical events took place, both joyful or of grief.

 Classical literature possesses a profound culture, and is the

epitome of the spirit, morals and wisdom of the Chinese peop
le.

 Classical poetry cares a great deal for rhythm. Poetry is one

of the earliest artistic forms as well as the most fully develope
d in China.
SHIH CHING (SHI JING) 诗经
 The most important poetic work produ
ced during the classical period was th
e Shih Ching (Book of Poetry), an ant
hology of ancient poems written in fou
r-word verses and composed mostly
between the 10th and the 7th centurie
s BC.
詩經 卷一
周南
關雎
關關雎鳩，在河之洲。窈窕淑女，君子好逑。
參差荇菜，左右流之。窈窕淑女，寤寐求之。
求之不得，寤寐思服。悠哉悠哉！輾轉反側。
參差荇菜，左右采之。窈窕淑女，琴瑟友之。
參差荇菜，左右芼之。窈窕淑女，鍾鼓樂之。

"Guan, guan!" go the fish hawks, on an islet in the river.

The elegant virtuous maiden - the noble person would love to marry her.
The uneven water spinach - the water flows to the left and right.
The elegant virtuous maiden - day and night seek her.
You seek but cannot get her; you think day and night about her.
Long, O long is the time; lying down you turn this way and that.
The uneven water spinach - pick it on the left and right. The elegant virtuous maid
The uneven water spinach - pluck it on the left and right.
The elegant virtuous maiden - with the bell and drum gladden her.
TANG POETRY
 Tang Dynasty is the period when poetry was flourishin
g.

 There are 2,300 poets and 50,000 poems.

 The most famous poets were Li Bai 李白 , Du Fu 杜甫,

and Bai Juyi 白居易.

 300 Tang Poems 唐诗三百首 is a collection of Tang p

oems for later learners.
 Before my bed, the moon is shining bright,
I think that it is frost upon the ground.
I raise my head and look at the bright moon,
I lower my head and think of home.

 This is 5 words, 4 sentences poem

 There are 7 words, 8 sentences poems
  春望

国破山河在
 城春草木深
感时花溅泪
 恨别鸟惊心
烽火连三月
 家书抵万金
白头搔更短
 浑欲不胜簪

 The country is broken, though hills and rivers remai

n,
In the city in spring, grass and trees are thick.
Moved by the moment, a flower's splashed with tear
s,
Mourning parting, a bird startles the heart.
The beacon fires have joined for three months now,
Family letters are worth ten thousand pieces.
I scratch my head, its white hairs growing thinner,
And barely able now to hold a hairpin.
 In Chinese literature, the Tang period (
618-907) is considered the golden age
of Chinese poetry. Tang Shi San Bai S
hou [300 Tang Poems] is a compilation
of poems from this period made aroun
d 1763 by Heng-tang-tui-shi [Sun Zhu]
of the Qing dynasty.
SONG CI (CÍ) 宋词
 Ci 词a type of lyric poetry

 Ci use a set of poetic meters derived from a base set of certa

in patterns, in fixed-rhythm, fixed-tone, and variable line-lengt
h formal types,

 They are also known as Changduanju (长短句, “lines of irreg

ular lengths”, compared to the 5 word petry.)
 "众里寻他千百度，蓦然回首，那人却在灯火
阑珊处。" -《青玉案·元夕》

 Having almost exhausted my energy searchin

g for this person (vague), I suddenly turned m
y head, and there he was, standing at the far
end of the street where the candlelight is the
dimmest.
 Modern Chinese poetry, 新诗, refers to pos
t Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912) , including the m
odern vernacular (baihua) style of poetry incre
asingly common after 4 May 1919,

 One of the first writers of poetry in the modern

Chinese poetry mode was Hu Shih (1891 — 19
62).
 蝴 蝶
 两个黄蝴蝶，双双飞上天。
不知为什么，一个忽飞还。
剩下那一个，孤单怪可怜。
也无心上天，天上太孤单。

 Two yellow butterflies fly to the sky one following another.

 I don’t know why one suddenly returned.
 The other one is so lonely and sad.
 It does not want to fly up again because it is too lonely there.

 （Hu Shi, 1916, New York)

 One of the modern genres of the poetry is so
called ‘misty poetry’.

 The representative is Bei Dao.北岛

DECEMBER, 2009
[Untitled]
 In father’s level imagination
the persistent cries of children
finally strike against a mountain
don’t panic
I walk along the thoughts of certain trees
and turn from stuttering into song
PROSE

 From the 6th to the 3d century BC, the first great works of Chi
nese philosophy appeared. Philosophical writings, e.g. Confu
cius Analects and Lao Tsu Tao Te Ching.

 Historical writings: one of the representative works is Shi Ji (

Records of History 史记), by Sima Qian 司马迁 （145-90 BC
）
 Shi Ji has 103 articles with more than 50,000 Chinese characters. He intend
ed to find out the patterns and principles of the development of human histor
y by writing Records of the History as well as to find out the relationship betw
een heavenly law and men. Some chapters recorded the biographies of hist
orical figure, e.g. Qing Shihuangdi’s biography.
 《史记 秦始皇本纪》Records of History: Bio
graphy of Qing Shihuang
DRAMA AND OPERA
 When people talk about Chinese literature, they often mentio
n three literary forms and their three golden ages: Tang poetr
y, Song ci, and Yuan qu.

 Yuan Qu (Yuan Dynasty Drama and Opera, 1271-1368) inclu

des san qu and za ju. San qu is lyrics written to fit a different
melodies, while Za Ju mainly consisted of a prelude and the
main story, composed of four acts, which were well coordinat
ed.
 Guan Hanqing 关汉卿(1241-1320,
a notable Chinese playwright and po
et in the Yuan Dynasty. He has bee
n described as among the most proli
fic and highly regarded dramatists of
the Yuan period.

 The Injustice to Dou E a.k.a. Snow i

n Midsummer (竇娥冤 Dòu É Yuān)
is the example of his pays.
 The story describes the young widow Dou E from Chuzhou (楚州)
whose husband Cai (蔡) died two years after marrying. Dou was wr
ongfully accused by Zhang Lür (張驢兒, literally "The Mule Zhang")
of the murder of his father, when Dou E refused to marry Zhang Lü
r. Before her execution, Dou E swore that her innocence would be
proven when :
 dripping blood did not land on the ground;
 snow fell in the midst of summer and
 a three-year drought befell Chuzhou
 All three, including "Snow in June” did occur. After the ghost of Do
u E revealed the injustice to her father - Dou Tianzhang (竇天章), w
ho eventually became a liangjunliefangshi inspector (兩淮廉訪使) -
Inspector Dou killed the corrupt officials and Zhang Lür.
 The story was repeatedly used and modified by later dramatists.
 China has many local operas.
 Peking opera is one of them.
 It has a history of over 200 years.
 This opera was extremely popular in the Qing Dy
nasty court
 It uses a combination of stylized actions like sing
ing, dancing, dialogue and acrobatic fighting to t
ell a story or present different characters and the
ir happiness, anger, sorrow, surprise, fear and s
adness.
FICTIONS AND NOVELS
Four great classical novels:

 Journey to the West

 Dream on Red Chamber
 Romance of Three Kingdoms
 Water Margin
 Author: Wu Cheng’en 吳承恩
 Written in the 16th century during the Ming D
ynasty
 Journey to the West is a household legend and my
th throughout East Asia, especially China, and amon
g Chinese throughout the world. It is based on the re
al life monk Xuan Zang's (also known as Tripitaka or
Tang San Zang) pilgrimage to India, to fetch back so
me Buddhist scriptures. Nonetheless, this fictional re
telling focuses on San Zang's first disciple, the monk
ey king, Sun Wu Kong, who captured readers' heart
s and imagination with his bold, daring, and mischie
vous personality. He was also very rebellious..
 Journey to the West is about Tang San Zang's jour
ney to the west and the difficulties he and his discipl
es face in between. It is overflowing with magic, de
mons, gods, immortals, and scrumptious action and
adventure! It has lots of humor and some angst (anx
iety) as well. Monkey King Wu Kong and the other di
sciples, a pig demon Zhu Ba Jie and the river demo
n Sha Wu Jing, have to battle hordes of demons, wh
o all want their master because his flesh will give im
mortality to anyone who eats it.
 连环画
 http://bbs.creaders.net/politics/bbsviewer.php
?trd_id=273607&language=big5
 Author: Cao Xueqin
 Written in the middle of the 18th century durin
g the Qing Dynasty.
 Dream on Red Chamber is believed to be semi-autob
iographical, mirroring the rise and decay of author Cao
Xueqin's own family and, by extension, of the Qing Dy
nasty. As the author details in the first chapter, it is int
ended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his y
outh: friends, relatives and servants. The novel is rem
arkable not only for its huge cast of characters and ps
ychological scope, but also for its precise and detailed
observation of the life and social structures typical of 1
8th-century Chinese aristocracy
 Author: Luo Guanzhong
 Witten in the 14th century, a historical nove
l set amidst the turbulent years near the en
d of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdom
s era of Chinese history
 The focus is mainly on the three power blocs that e
merged from the remnants of the Han Dynasty, and
would eventually form the three states of Wei, Shu,
and Wu. The novel deals with the plots, personal an
d army battles, intrigues, and struggles of these stat
es to achieve dominance for almost 100 years. This
novel also gives readers a sense of how the Chines
e view their history in a cyclical lens. The famous op
ening lines of the novel summarize this view:
 Author: Shi Naian
 Written in 14th century
 The story, set in the Song Dynasty, tells of how a gr
oup of 108 outlaws gathered at Mount Liang (or Lian
gshan Marsh) to form a sizable army before they are
eventually granted amnesty by the government and
sent on campaigns to resist foreign invaders and su
ppress rebel forces. It has introduced to readers ma
ny of the most beloved literary characters in Chines
e literature, such as Wu Song 武松, Lin 林冲 Chon
g and Lu Zhishen 鲁智深.
 Ba Jin (November 25, 1904 –
October 17, 2005)

 Lu Xun (September 25, 1881 –

October 19, 1936)
 Ba Jin 巴金, pseudonym of Li Yaotang (李尧棠), was o
ne of most important and well-respected writers of the
twentieth century in China. He was born in Chengdu,
Sichuan in 1904, but lived in Shanghai for most of his
adult life before his death in 1995. Ba Jin was prolific,
publishing 14 short story collections, 19 novels. During
the Cultural Revolution he suffered some criticism, but
was officially rehabilitated in 1977, and appointed Chai
rman of the Chinese Writer’s Association in 1983. The
Torrents Trilogy: the Family, Spring, Autumn is his mo
st celebrated novel.
 Watch the video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTKn8kstp
i8
 LuXun : 鲁迅 Lǔ Xùn was the pen name
of Zhou Shuren 周树人 Zhōu Shùrén;
(September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936), one of the major C
hinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be t
he leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in bai
hua (白話) (the vernacular) as well as classical Chinese. Lu Xu
n was a short story writer, editor, translator, critic, essayist and
poet. In the 1930s he became the titular head of the Chinese L
eague of the Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.
 狂人日记 "A Madman's Diary" (1918)
 孔乙己 "Kong Yiji" (1919)
 药 "Medicine" (1919)
 一件小事 "An Incident" (1920)
 阿Q正传 "The True Story of Ah Q" (1921)
 祝福 "New Year Sacrifice" (1924)
 靜夜思
Jìng Yè Sī
(Li Bai)

[quiet] [night] [think]

Quiet Night Thoughts
床前明月光
Chuáng qián míng yuè guāng
[bed] [front] [bright] [moon] [light]
Bright moonlight before my bed;
疑是地上霜
Yí shì dìshàng shuāng
[suspect] [is] [ground] [on] [frost]
I suppose it is frost on the ground.
舉頭望明月
Jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè
[raise] [head] [look] [bright] [moon]
I raise my head to view the bright moon,
低頭思故鄉
Dītóu sī gùxiāng
[lower] [head] [think of] [old] [home village]
then lower it, thinking of my home village.
 Drinking Alone with the Moonlight
(Li Po)

From a pot of wine among the flowers

I drank alone. There was no one with me --
Till raising my cup, I ask the bright moon
To bring me my shadow and make us thre
e.
Alas, the moon was unable to drink
And my shadow tagged me vacantly;
But still for a while I had these friends
To cheer me through the end of spring....
I sang. The moon encouraged me
I danced. My shadow tumbled after.
As long as I knew, we were born companio
ns.
And then I was drunk, and we lost one anot
her.
....Shall goodwill ever be secure?
I watch the long road of the River of Stars.