ASIAN LITERATURE

ASIAN LITERATURE
• East Asian Literature
• South / Central Asian Literature
• Southeast Asian Literature
• West Asian Literature
• East Asian Literature
• Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Literature

• South / Central Asian Literature

• Indian Literature

• Southeast Asian Literature

• Thai and Philippine Literature

• West Asian Literature

• Arabic Literature
East Asian Literature

Chinese

Japanese

Korean Literature
Chinese Literature
East Asian Literature

The Sleeping Dragon The Awaken Dragon

Considered to have the greatest power and dominance in

Asian literature because of its influence on other countries
specially Japan and Korea.
• It is said that literature started in China can be
tracked and dated 3000 years back.

• People from ancient China (Shang Dynasty) used

oracle bones to engrave their writings.
East Asian Literature

ORACLE BONE SCRIPT

East Asian Literature

21st Century Literary Characteristics and Themes

• Women Liberation

• Global China

• “Chineseness”
 
East Asian Literature

21st Century Literary Characteristics and Themes

• Women Liberation

 Many Chinese Writers are women.

 In most literary texts/form made nowadays, women are

the main lead.

 
East Asian Literature

21st Century Literary Characteristics and Themes

• Global China

 A literary breakthrough that involves Chinese writers

who are residing in the “West”.

 
East Asian Literature

21st Century Literary Characteristics and Themes

• “Chineseness”

 Refers to the struggles that Chinese immigrants

experience from their homeland and families.

 
East Asian Literature

“Crazy Rich Asians”

East Asian Literature

Women Liberation Global China

Chineseness

Kevin Kwan
Singaporean-Chinese Novelist
Based in America
East Asian Literature

Women Liberation Global China

Chineseness
East Asian Literature

21st Century Platforms

Since China is still into censorship specially on social media, digital

companies made their Chinese Counterparts of the most popular social
media platforms being used around the world. These platforms were not
only used for entertainment and communication but also for posting and
self-production of literary works.
East Asian Literature

21st Century Platforms

Facebook/messenger counterpart
East Asian Literature

21st Century Platforms

Twitter counterpart

Weibo
East Asian Literature

21st Century Platforms

Counterpart of Youtube

Youku Tuduo
East Asian Literature

21st Century Platforms

Multi-function social media platform

East Asian Literature

21st Century Platforms

Platform used to post short video contents.

TikTok
East Asian Literature
East Asian Literature
Japanese Literature

The Land of the Rising Sun

East Asian Literature

Glimpse of Japanese Literary History

• Kanji is the first writing system of Japan, it was influenced by

China.

• Now, they are using both Hiragana and Katakana as their

writing system.
East Asian Literature

“simple” kana “detailed” kana

East Asian Literature

Japanese Literary History is divided into four periods.

Ancient

Classic

Medieval

Modern
East Asian Literature

Japanese Literary History is divided into four periods.

Ancient

Only oral tradition existed because of the absence of a

writing system.

Kanji was later on introduced and became the initial writing

system.
East Asian Literature

Japanese Literary History is divided into four periods.

Classic

Was considered as the golden days of Japanese Literature

and Arts.

Different literary outputs flourished during this time.

East Asian Literature

Japanese Literary History is divided into four periods.

Medieval

Was during the war and strife in Japan.

Most of the themes were about the longingness for peace

and abundance.
East Asian Literature

Japanese Literary History is divided into four periods.

Modern

The era of short poetry (Haiku and Tanaga).

Theatrical acts also emerged. Those are called as kabuki,

noh, and joruri.
East Asian Literature

K
A
B
U
K
I
East Asian Literature

N
O
H
East Asian Literature

J
O
R
U
R
I
East Asian Literature

21st Century Literary Characteristics and Themes

• Women breaking boundaries

• Punk Literature

 
East Asian Literature
East Asian Literature

21st Century Literary Characteristics and Themes

Japan’s greatest contribution to 21st Century Literature is Manga.

East Asian Literature

All time famous mangakas in Japan are:

Akira Toriyama
East Asian Literature

All time famous mangakas in Japan are:

Masashi Kishimoto
East Asian Literature

21st Century Literary Characteristics and Themes

NEGATIVE ASPECT:
Japanese Adult Videos/Contents

Japan has been a source of adult contents. For some time, the seek for
“freedom” and the definition of the term “obscene” has become in
conflict. Since there were no definite boundaries on what is obscene and
not, JAV/C producers did a self-censorship and have decided to only put
into pixel the male and female genitals. It has also become a job-providing
industry in the country.
 
Korean Literature
East Asian Literature

Glimpse of Korean Literary History

• Korean Literature was also developed under the shadow
of Chinese Literature.
• Hanja is the first writing system of Korea; it was based on
Chinese scripts.
• Was eventually replaced by Hangul. It was tagged as the
Korean Alphabet.
• They believed in Shamanism.
East Asian Literature
East Asian Literature
East Asian Literature
East Asian Literature

Glimpse of Korean Literary History

East Asian Literature

Glimpse of Korean Literary History

The history of Korean Literature was divided into 2 periods: the

classical and modern.
East Asian Literature

Glimpse of Korean Literary History

Classical
Shaped by Korean folk beliefs (Written in Hanja)

Hyangga - Buddhist Monks (poems)

Koryo kayo (Goryo Gayo)– songs with no specific measure or rhyme
Kasa (Gasa)– short verses about personal sentiments that are also being sung.
East Asian Literature

Glimpse of Korean Literary History

Modern
Literary texts during this period were written in Hangul but since the Japanese
Occupation was covered in this period, the alphabet was then turned into
Japanese writing system.
East Asian Literature

Glimpse of Korean Literary History

In 1945, when Korea was divided in two, North Korea and South
Korea, change in Korean writing also emerged. North Korea
became more conservative while South Korea became looser, more
democratic, and western based.
East Asian Literature

21st Century Literary Characteristics and Themes of Korean

Literature
For sometime, the western ideologies had influenced Korea but in the 21st
Century, the tables have turned. Korea has invaded the world.

The world had gone crazy with all the Ks:

K-pop
K-idols
K-drama
K-fashion
K-beauty
East Asian Literature

K-Quiz
Name the Korean actors, idols and products that you will see on
screen.
---End of discussion---
PETA 2

PHOTOCARD
 PETA 2
PHOTOCARD
Guidelines:
• Must be of a regular photocard size.
• Must show the current Korean Pop Culture.

Scoring System:
5 points – physical look of the photocard
10 points – depiction of Korean Pop Culture