EXPLORING

CHINESE
LITERATURE
Chinese Literature has very ancient beginnings
Was written 5000 years ago and has since
documented the dreams and visions of a race who
number about one-fifth of the world's population
 The origins of the Chinese language are lost, but there is
no doubt that it is the most ancient spoken and probably
the oldest written-language still used by humans.
 It has undergone few changes because China in ancient
times refused all contact with the Western world.
MONOSYLLABIC
each word has only one syllable
number of words in the language is very limited
THERE IS A GREAT DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE
AS SPOKEN AND AS WRITTEN
The spoken vocabulary has considerably fewer
words than the written vocabulary.
CHINESE WRITING
 Chinese writing however is different. It has no olphabet; it
consists of about 50,000 characters
 Each character does not represent the spoken word; instead
it represents an idea.
 made up of IDEOGRAPHS
 The child learning to write Chinese has to learn to write
(draw) 214 signs instead of the 26 letters in English.
FIVE CLASSICS
 form the foundation of their cultural, politi cal, and traditional life
of Chinese

The Book of Changes

The Book of History,
The Book of Rites
 The Book of Odes
The Spring and Autumn Annals.
FOUR GREATEST CHINESE
POETS
Wang Wei
 Li-Po
To-Fu
Po-Chu-I
DRAMA AND FICTION (1200)
Chinese plays resemble European opera, combining
singing and dancing with dialogue
MODERN CHINESE
LITERATURE (1800)
 Developed when many European missionaries and trad ers
traveled to China, and the Chinese were gradu ally
exposed to Western culture
 1949, the Chinese communists came to power after a long
civil war
 They ordered writers to create works that could be easily
understood by the peasants, soldiers, and workers.
 During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) all
intellectuals were persecuted in China
 Political and social themes of this period dominated the
published works, and some writers dared to write works
that criticized the government
THE GREAT
CHINESE
PHILOSOPHERS
LAO TZU
Pronounced as (lou’dzu)
Father of Taoism
Author of “Tao Te Ching” meaning the Way and Its
Power
 contains Lao Tzu’s words of wisdom
TAOISM( (DOU’IZM)
Religion developed from Taoist
philosophy
It stresses freedom from desires, simplicity
of lifestyle, and understanding the way of
the universe
TAOISM
Taoism is derived from Tao whih means
“path” or “way”.
Tao referred to the force that controlled the
universe.
CONFUCIUS
One of the truly great men that china has
produced
Confucius is the Westernized form of
Kung Fu Tze
Fu means revered and Tze means teacher
CONFUCIANISM
A system of beliefs observed by most
Chinese and concernd particularly with
moral behavior.
Confucius’ followers gathered all his
sayings, this is the Analects of Confucius
ANALECTS OF CONFUCIUS
(SELECTIONS)
1. The superior man understands what is right; the inferior
mar understands what will sell.

2. The superior man loves his soul; the inferior man loves
his property,

3. The superior man blames himself, the inferior man

blames others.
4. To know what you know and know what you
don't know is the characteristic of one who knows.

5. Do not worry about people not knowing you, but

strive to be worth knowing.

.6. A man who has committed a mistake and does

not correct #t is committing another mistake.
7. Reading without thinking gives one a
disorderly mind; thinking without reading
makes one flighty.

8. When a country is in order, it is a shame

to be poor and a common man; when a
country is in chaos, it is a shame to be rich
and an official.
9. To repay evil with kindness is a sign of
a generous character; to repay kindness
with evil is the sign of a criminal.

10. A man who has a beautiful soul always

has some beautiful things to say, but a man
who says beautiful things does not
necessarily have a beautiful soul.