This presentation discusses information about Chinese literature.

1. A Journey To Its History
And Literature

2. Formal name: People’s Republic of China (PRC)
Capital: Beijing
Government type: Communist state
Legal System: Based on a civil law system,
which was derived from the
Soviet legal System.
Population: 1.3Billion
China
Quick Facts

3. The red color symbolizes communist revolution.
Red is also the traditional color in Chinese
culture.
Golden yellow is the official color of the Manchu
dynasty and also implies that China belongs to
the Chinese people, a "yellow race“
The large star represents the Communist Party.
The four smaller stars represent the four social
classes of the traditional Chinese society - the
working class, the peasantry, the urban petty
bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie
(capitalists) - united under the Communist Party
of China.
Five 5-pointed stars reflects the importance of
the number five in Chinese philosophy (The
number 5 is associated with the five elements -
Water, Fire, Earth, Wood, and Metal - and hence,
it was historically associated with the Emperor of
China)
The Chinese Flag

5. It has been saidthat
Shang Dynasty
flourished in 1600BC,
during the Bronze age.

6. Literature
•TheChinese Oracle Bones
•Madearound 1500 BC, during the
time of Shang Dynasty
•Used by priests to tell the future
•Thewriting on these oracle bones is
the same writing that people use in
modern China, just in an earlier
version.

7. By analyzing oracle bone
inscriptions, other artifacts, and
archaeological sites such as tombs and
ancient cities, scholars have been able to
piece together many details of Shang
civilization.
They have confirmed the
names of its kings, its style of
government, its military history, its
religious beliefs and rituals, and its
society.

9. The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
From this dynasty cametwo Chinese
heritage sites: TheTerracotta Army and
the Great Wall of China

10. During this dynasty, the emperor
Qin Shih Huang Di unified the
currency, system of writing, and even
the philosophical thought through
book burningthroughoutthe empire.

11. Confucianism became the state
philosophy. “Men of wisdom and
virtue” were put in place through
the civil service examinations.
Scholar-officials were expected to
be junzi or noble. Women,
however, were not allowed to
take the exam.
Han Dynasty 206 BC – 220CE

12. Kung Fu Tze or Confucius was born around 551 BCE in Lu province in Zhou. His
parents were nobility, but had become poor. When Confucius was about 15 years old, he became
quite interested in learning. In those days, only the nobility and royals were allowed education. All
the teachersweregovernment officials.
It washardforConfuciustofinda waytolearn becausehewaspoor.
To solve this, he went to work for a nobleman. This gave him the opportunity to learn
andtotravel totheimperial capital.
Confucius studied and learned until he probably was the most learned man of his day. People
heard of his knowledge and sent their sons to study with him. He was the first private teacher in
China.

13. Confucianism
Confucius taught anyone who was eager to learn. His ideas,
called Confucianism, stress the need to develop responsibility and moral
characterthrough rigid rules of behavior.
Confucianism is not, properly speaking, a religion; it's a way
of behaving, so you'll do the right things.

14. It is a collection of moral and ethical
principles enunciated by the Chinese thinker
Confucius (K’ung Fu-tzu) around 500 BC in
conversations with his disciples. These principles set
standards for individual conduct and the
administrationofgovernment andcommunity.
The Confucian Analects

15. • Tsze-kung asked what constituted the superior man. The
Master said, "He acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks
according to hisactions.“
• “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying
awaysmallstones.”
• "To have faults and not to reform them--this, indeed,
should be pronounced having faults.“
Excerpts from
The Confucian Analects

16. Ssu Ma Chien (145-86 BC) is
China’s great historian. He was also an
astronomer and calendar expert during
after the Han Dynasty. He was the first
to write a comprehensive history of
China, thus earning the title of “Father
of Chinese History.”

17. The Ballad of Hua Mulan - 5th or 6th century

18. The Tang (618-907), along with the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE) that
follows, is often referred to asChina's "Golden Age“.
Poetry, calligraphy, landscape painting, philosophy, political thought,
historical writing, scientific advances in astronomy, chemistry, and medicine,
and the production of fine silks, porcelain, and teas all flourish, particularly in
the period from the 7th to the 12th centuries
7th-12th Century CE– China’s Golden Age

19. Taoism
Tao (pronounced Dow) means The Way (to happiness).
It is during the Tang Dynasty that Taoism becomes the
official “state philosophy” of China, and as such is
integrated into the imperial court system.
It was also the time of the “second Daozang” – an
expansion of the official Taoist canon, ordered (in CE 748)
by Emperor TangXuan-Zong.

20. Taoism is not a religion. Taoism is a philosophy, a
way of looking at life and a way of thinking about
things.
Taoists believe if you look at life and think about
things in the right way, you'll be much happier.

22. During the Tang Dynasty, the great
poets Li Po and Tu Fu became popular. Tu Fu
became known for his poem about war and
bitter human experiences. Li Po, a friend of Tu
Fu’, wrote lyricalpoetry about love.
Li Yian, a woman poet also became
famous.
Tang Dynasty- Literature

23. Li Po–
706-761 AD
•Also called Li Bo orLi Bai
•Hewrote about the goodthings in
life, emphasizing love,friendship,
wine, nature and simple village
living.

24. While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse, You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums. And we went on
living in the village of Chokan: Two small people, without dislike or suspicion. At fourteen I married My Lord you. I
never laughed, being bashful. Lowering my head, I looked at the wall. Called to, a thousand times, I never looked
back.
At fifteen I stopped scowling, I desired my dust to be mingled with yours Forever and forever and
forever. Why should I climb the look out? At sixteen you departed, You went into far Ku-to-yen, by the river of
swirling eddies, And you have been gone five months. The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead. You dragged
your feet when you went out. By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses, Too deep to clear them
away! The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind. The paired butterflies are already yellow with August Over the
grass in the West garden; They hurt me. I grow older. If you are coming down through the narrows of the river
Kiang, Please let meknow beforehand, And Iwill come out to meet youAs far as Cho-fu-Sa.
The River Merchant’s wife

25. Tu Fu
•Also knownas Du Fu
• poet friend of Li bai
•became known for his
poem about war and bitter
humanexperiences

26. TheSolitary Goose
Thesolitary goose does not drink oreat,
It flies about and calls, missing theflock.
No-onenow remembers this one shadow,
They'velost each other in themyriadlayersof cloud.
Itlooks into thedistance: seems to see,
It's so distressed, it thinksthat it can hear.
Unconsciously, the wild ducksstart to call,
Cries of birds are everywhereconfused.

27. The world’s oldest book The world’s oldest surviving book is Chinese— Buddhist
text called the Diamond Sutra, which bears the date 868 AD. Along with other
printed manuscripts, the book was discovered in 1907 in a walled-up cave in
Dunhang(north-west China)and is on display at the British Library.

28. Lu Hsun was the pen name of Zhou Shuren
(1881-1936). He introduced modern Chinese
literature. Aside from being a critic , he became
the leader of the Modern Cultural Revolution.
One of his famous works is “A Madman’s
Diary” which serves as Lu Hsun’’s declaration
of war” against Chinese Literature.
In the 1930s he became the titular head of the
Chinese League of the Left-Wing Writers in
Shanghai.

29. The “Diary ofA Madman”
written by Lu Hsun (1918)
The story presents itself as diary entries of a madman has now been cured of his
paranoia. The diary describes a growing fear, then, after extensively studying the Four
books and five classics of old Confucian culture, the diary writer, the supposed
"madman", began to see the words "Eat People!" “吃人” (chiren) written between the
lines of the texts (in classical Chinese texts, commentary was placed between the lines of
the text, rather than in notes at the bottom of a page). Seeing the people in his village as
potential man-eaters, he is gripped by the fear that everyone, including his brother, his
venerable doctor and his neighbors, who are crowding about to watch him, are
harboring cannibalistic thoughts on him. Despite the brother's apparent genuine
concern, the narrator still regards him as big a threat as any stranger. Towards the end
the narrator turns his concern to the younger generation, especially his late sister (who
died when she was five) as he is afraid they will be cannibalized. By then he is convinced
that his late sister had been eaten up by his brother, and that he himself may have
unwittingly tasted her flesh.
The story ends with the famous line: "Save the children..."

30. Chinese Literary History
Summing Up

31. Things to remember from this presentation:
•Why is the Shang dynasty significant to Chinese Literature? Because it was the time when the
archaeologists found written evidences about the existence of an ancient dynasty through the
discovery of the oracle bones. The oracles bones made from tortoise shells and animal bones
provided details about the Shang civilization.
•The Chinese Axial Age and the preoccupations of the philosophers during this time , and the reason
for that. – Because war is rampant during the Axial Age, the pHilosophers wanted to restore social
order and harmonyso they cameup with philosophies that might be helpful to achieve peace.
•KungFuTze,Confucianism and his teachings (TheConfucian Analects)
•Ssu Ma Chien– TheFather of ChineseHistory
•TheBallad of Hua Mulan and its era
•TheGolden Age of China : Whyis it called the Golden Age?
•TheTangDynasty (Taoism, Li Po, TuFu, and some of their works)
•Modern ChineseLiterature: Lu Hsun