This document provides an overview of Chinese civilization, history, culture, and literature. It discusses: - The origins and characteristics of the Chinese writing system and language. - Key events and symbols in Chinese history, including the flag and government administration. - Major religions practiced in China like Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. - Important figures that shaped Chinese philosophy like Confucius. - Traditions and festivals in Chinese culture like weddings and Lunar New Year. - The development of Chinese literature and arts across dynasties from Shang to Qing.

1.  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.

2. Flag of China was originally adopted on October 1,
1949
The 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 own
The four smaller stars represent the social
classes of the people.

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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. The Chinese has 7 dialects and
these are:
1.Mandarin
2.Cantonese
3.Hakka
4.Wu
5.Min
6.Xiang
7.Gan

14. 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 Literature
1.Classical Literature
2.Modern Literature
3.Contemporary Literature
4.Present Age Literature

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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 the
concepts of true north and
magnetic declination.
*Su Song – famous for
his hydraulic-powered
astronomical clock tower.

25. 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.

26. 8. Ming Dynasty (1368-
1644) – Novels
- Journey to the West by
Wu Cheng’en – based on the
historical journey of a
Buddhist to India.

27. 9. Qing Dynasty (1644- 1911) – Novels
and Pre –modern Literature
*Manchus – established the last
dynasty.
*The Dream of the
Red Chamber – last of
China’s four great classic
novels.