CHINESELITERATURE

by: Shara May M. Anacay BSE - English

Chinese civilization – one of the few ancient civilization to have its individual writing concept.The Chinese language has over 20,000 characters the average Chinese only learns about 5,000 of these in his lifetime.

Flag of China was originally adopted on October 1, 1949The red of the Chinese flag symbolizes the Communist Revolution, and also the tradition color of the people.The large gold star represent Communism and Communism means a way of organizing a society in which a government ownThe four smaller stars represent the social classes of the people.

The Republic of China has an area of 9, 597 million sq. km. and the capital city of China is Beijing.

The famous landmark in China is the Great Wall of China (also known as the “Ten Thousand Li Wall”. One Li is equals to 500 meters, the walls is over 1,500 miles in length.The administration of China has 23 provinces, 5 autonomous region, 4 municipalities and 2 special administrative regions.

The religions and beliefs of Chinese people are Islam over 22 million, Catholicism is 4 million and Protestant over 10 million.There are also Atheist who doesn’t believe in God.

Confucianism - an ethical teaching founded by Confucius.Confucius is a Chinese Teacher, editor, politician and philosopher of the spring and autumn period of Chinese history.

The opposite of Confucianism is Taoism and the most important religion that encompasses a variety of tradition and beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teaching attributed to the Buddha.

Confucius- born 28 of September 551 BC, KONG QUI

the 1st name and died 479 BC.- he is the founder of Confucianism

Influences – 1 Ching, Book of Rites- his philosophy emphasized personal and

governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity.

- his followers completed successfully with many other school during the hundred school of thoughts era only to be suppressed in favor of the legalists during the Qin dynasty.

- he also recommend family as a basis for local government.

- he embrace the well known principle “ Do not do unto others what you don’t want others to do unto you” – the Golden Rule.

Culture and traditions of Chinese in wedding.Red is the color of wedding in China because they believe it signifies love, joy, and prosperity to seclusion.Seclusion means away from other people.The wedding day is carefully chosen to astrological signs.

The most important event in China is the Chinese New Year and they are celebrating it on the 1st day of the year in lunar calendar, usually between late in January or early February.

They also have the Lantern Festival and they are celebrating it on the 15th day of the 1st Lunar Calendar and in the 5th of 5th Lunar Month they are celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival.

The education in China has always been a highly valued and the great master Confucius thought that it is a pleasure to learn something and try it out at intervals. Similarly, numerous students have been convinced that reading books excels all others careers.

The Chinese has 7 dialects and these are:1.Mandarin2.Cantonese3.Hakka4.Wu5.Min6.Xiang7.Gan

Chinese Literature is one of the most major literacy with an interrupted history and more that 30,000 years, dating back at least to the 14th century.

4 Classes of Literature1.Classical Literature2.Modern Literature3.Contemporary Literature4.Present Age Literature

1. The Chinese Classical Literature (1644-1911)- refers to the earliest period and covers works from 3,000 yeas ago to the late Qing dynasty and is virtually unbroken strands enduring dynastic changes. Written in ancient form of language that is very different from present day Chinese, it needs to be carefully studied to be understand.

2. Chinese Modern Literature- refers to the period from the

Opium War in 1840 to the may fourth movement in 1919.

*Opium War- this is the war between two wars in the mid 19th century involving Anglo Chinese dispute over the British.

- people observed the impact of Western thought as foreigners poured China and established their colonies, novels, poetry and other works begun to appear with the theme o patriotism and revelation of social literature.

3. Contemporary Literature (1919-1949)

- spanned period from 1919 to the foundation of modern in 1949 and took on a new vigor despite the fact that Chinese was in the checkered and complicated times.

4. Present Age Literature (1949-present)

- evolved since the establishments of the People’s Republic in 1949 during this time.

- there was a Logjam as a consequence of the cultural resolution that lasted for near 10 years that era is now long past and we now have a favorable turn events and a great number of responsible written works.

Dynasty in China

1.Shang Dynasty ( 1700-1050 BC) – Development of Chinese Writing- 1st dynasty- hieroglyphics writing on bronze wares and oracle bones- it evolved into ideographic and partly-phonetic Chinese characters.

Dynasty in China

2. Zhou Dynasty ( 1045-225 BC) – Basic Philosophical and religious Literature- oldest dynasty- major literary achievements originated in the late Spring and Autumn period and Warring State period.

Dynasty in China

3. Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) – Literary Disaster and Legalism*Mohism – big philosophical and religious school*Li Si – Qin emperor who introduced a writing system and developed into Modern Chinese writing.*Legalism – philosophical school.

4. Han Dynasty (206 – 220 BC) – Scientific and Historical Texts

- Era’s major contributions were historical texts and scientific works.

*Sima Qian – wrote Historical Records

*Historical records – major history concerning the overall history of China from Shang Dynasty to Han Dynasty.

*Cai Lun – 1st person in the world to create writing paper.

5. Tang Dynasty (618-907) – Early Woodblock Printing and Poetry

*Dufu and Li Bai – China’s greatest poets.*Li Bai – one of the greatest Romantic

poets.*Dufu – one of the greatest Realists

poets.

6. Song Dynasty (960-1279) – Early Woodblock Printing. Travel Literature, Poetry, Scientific texts and the Neo- Confucian Classics

*5 Classics and 4 Books – written in the classical language.

*Shen Kuo and Su Song –both work scientific treatises

*Shen – discovered theconcepts of true north andmagnetic declination.

*Su Song – famous forhis hydraulic-poweredastronomical clock tower.

7. Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) – Drama and Great Fictional novels

*Guan Hanquing – one of the best playwrights of the times.

*Mid Summer Snow – one of the most popular drama pieces.

*The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin – two of the four greatest novels in Chinese Literature.

*The Romance of the Western Chamber by Wang Shifu – one of the best romantic dramas ever written in China.

8. Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) – Novels

- Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en – based on the historical journey of a Buddhist to India.

9. Qing Dynasty (1644- 1911) – Novels and Pre –modern Literature

*Manchus – established the last dynasty.

*The Dream of theRed Chamber – last ofChina’s four great classicnovels.

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