Chinese Literature Version 1 - for Literature Class

one session presentation of Chinese Literature with task

1. LIT 304 Chinese Literature History, Writers, and Beyond

2. Historical Background 01

3. One of the countries with the oldest and richest civilizations is China. The first Chinese dynasty, Hsia, was founded by Emperor Yu in 1105 B.C., the period around which the Chinese were already civilized and had their government, society, philosophy, music, literature, and industries. The blossoming of Chinese philosophy reached its golden age during the Chou Dynasty (112-256 B.C.) with the emergence of three great philosophers, namely: Lao Tzu, Mencius, and Confucius. China’s first emperor was Shih Huang Ti; the Chin rulers had first completed the Great Wall in 207 B.C. which extended along the northern frontier, giving stalwart protection and preserving what truly were Chinese and warding off intruders and foreign ideas as well. The Han period is the most inspiring epoch in the history of China. Thus, the Chinese called themselves “sons of Han”. The Chinese literature became prominently richer in both form and content; with Confucius on the fore, the Chinese mind was conquered and the first standard historical documents and literary manuscript with a truly Chinese mind were collected in the archives of an imperial library.

4. Four centuries after the fall of Han, China again rose to greatness with the Tang dynasty, founded and ruled bu Li Yuan. Tang rulers manifested God-given talents, had strong political consciousness. Buddhism and other religions were subjected to the State. The Tang period witnessed the flourishing of Chinese poetry with Tu Fu who was given the title “God of Poetry”. Li Po, his friend, also rose to fame with his romantic lyrical poems, and was called “Plot Fairy”; and Tu Fu was the “Poet Sage” who was known more as an intellectual poet with much restraint and refinement. Other poets who contributed to the period’s great age of poetry were Po Chiu, Wang Wei, and Wei Ying Wu.

5. Generally, Chinese literature extensively includes all forms of writing such as historical books, political, sociological and philosophical treatises, tales, letters, lyric poetry, and plays. A collection of ancient lyrics, the Shin Ching or “Book of Odes” can be attributed to Confucius. Chinese ancient poetry is the largest and oldest collection of poetry in the world. This offers a wide anthology of verse which can be compared with Chinese paintings. The poems are certainly like a panorama of Chinese rural paintings having subjects such as cherry, bushes like sentinels, soldiers marching to war, all put artistically in picture-painting words with vivid imagery and clarity of expression. The bible of Confucianism consists of the “Five Classics” and the “Four Books”. The Five Classics include (1) The Book of Changes, (2) The Book of History (2400-619), (3) The Book of Poetry (Three Hundred Poems of the Chou Period), (4) The Book of Rites, and (5) The Spring and Autumn Annals (a history of the State of Lu). The Four Books were selections from Classic Literature: 1) Analects or Dialogues of Confucius with his disciples; 2) The Book of Mencius (Sayings of the Sages), 3) The Great Learning (Confucian Ethics) and 4) Doctrine of the Mean.

6. Confucius 02 Background, Philosophy, and Works

7. Biography and Philosophy The doctrines of Confucius has molded Chinese thinking for twenty-four hundred years, yet he was not an original thinker or an inspired prophet. Confucius really was the person by whom the conceptions and standards of conduct developed by the Chinese through preceding centuries were assembled and put into concrete form. He was born in the province of Lu, now Shantung. Like many great men, Confucius was a precocious child. He mastered the learning of his day at an early age, and became the manager of a large estate at seventeen. During twenty-seven months of exclusion after his mother’s death, he formulated much of his philosophy. The Chinese had always venerated ancestors, but the young man’s devotion was exceptional, and the emphasis he laid upon honoring the dead had resulted in practically a worship of ancestors. It has been said that China is a land ion which ten million living men are held in subservice to a hundred million dead ones.

8. Biography and Philosophy From the age of twenty-two to the end of his life, Confucius was a scholar and a teacher. He collected the materials which constitute the Five Classics, and thus became the founder of Chinese literature. During his fifties, he also had a practical experience as governor of his province for four years. Political intrigue caused him to withdraw in disgust, and his later years were saddened by the death of his son and some of his favorite disciples, as well as feeling that he had failed to establish his teachings, which were his life’s work. Little did he dream that after his death, he would be deified, and that centuries later, a temple in his honor would be found in every Chinese village. Confucianism is not a religion, for it is silent on the subject of God and immortality; rather, it is a philosophy of living, an ethical code, a political doctrine. It presents Chinese humanistic philosophy, an indigenous material for lyrical and didactic literature; an emphasized that the true bases of society are not just social, but mundane and divine as well.

9. Confucian Odes Plop fall the plums; but there are still seven. Let those gentlemen that would court me Come while it is lucky! Plop fall the plums; there are still three. Let any gentleman that would court me Come before it is too late! Plop fall the plum; in shallow baskets we lay them, Any gentleman who would court me Had better speak while there is time.

10. Confucian Odes I beg of you, Chung Tzu, Do not climb into our homestead, Do not break the willows we have planted. Not that I mind about the willows, But I am afraid of my father and mother. Chun Tzu I dearly love; But of what my father and mother say.

11. Confucian Odes Indeed I am afraid I beg of you, Chung Tzu, Do not climb over our wall, Do not break the mulberry-trees we have planted. Not that I mind about the mulberry-trees. But I am afraid of my brothers. Chung Tzu I dearly love; But of all that people will say Indeed I am afraid.

12. Trivia: The name "Confucius" is a Latinized form of the Mandarin Chinese Kǒng Fūzǐ (孔夫子, "Master Kong"), and was coined in the late 16th century by the early Jesuit missionaries to China.

13. The Analects of Confucius

14. The precepts of Confucius have been handed down through the analects written by his disciples. The only extant piece of writing done by the master himself is the history of his province which is one of the Five Classics. His teachings were largely by word of mouth and were recorded after his death. Confucius had no belief in anything supernatural. He refused to discuss the immortality of the soul, but he created an earthly immortality for the dead through the ancestor worship which perpetuates their names and influence. In the complete absence of mysticism and entire devotion to the intellectual and practical, Confucianism shows its chief difference from other great doctrines which have swayed mankind. 論語

15. The five cardinal principles of Confucius were humanity, uprightness, decorum, wisdom, and truth. His great ideal was the prosperity of the state and its government in such as way as to serve the best interest of all its citizens. The desires of the individual were completely subservient to the standards of the family and state. Ancient emotion had no place in a philosophy based on calm deliberation. Society was poured into a ceremonial mold and left to cool for centuries. That is why the breaking up of this mold in the twentieth century through Western contacts had caused such internal rending of China. 孔子

16. 论 语 Lúnyǔ (Simp. Chinese) n . Analects (1) a collection of short literary or philosophical extracts

17. Other Prominent Writers Li Po Tu Fu

18. Other Prominent Writers Lao Tzu T’ao Chi’ien

19. 谚 语 Chinese Proverbs and Sayings Yànyǔ (Simp. Chinese) n . Proverbs (1) a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice.

20. If Fortune smiles, who doesn’t; If Fortune doesn’t, who does? Deal with the fault of others as gently as your own. If you bow at all, bow low. Only imbeciles want credit for the achievements of their ancestors.

21. The faults which a man condemns when out of office, he commits when in. Better a dog in peace than a man in war. God is tested by fire; man, by gold.

22. Those who have not tasted the bitterest of life’s bitters, can never appreciate the sweetest of life’s sweets. The tongue is a sharp sword which slays, though it draws no blood.

23. The four great folktales of China: “The Butterfly Lovers”, “Legend of the White Snake”, “Lady Meng Jiang” and “The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl”.

24. https://mulanbook.com/pages/northern-wei/ballad-of-mulan https://mulanbook.com/

25. task: In your illustration board and together with your partner, choose a Chinese character and draw it. Afterwards, add decorations as you wish but make sure they do not overpower the character or symbol. Then create a poem about it and present it to the class.

26. Poetry Fiction Suggested Readings

27. 万事开头难。 wàn shì kāi tóu nán. Everything is difficult in the beginning.

28. 衣不如新，人不如故。 yī bù rú xīn， rén bù rú gù. Clothes are more cherishable when new, but relationships with people are more cherishable when old.

29. 耳听为虚，眼见为实。 ěr tīng wéi xū， yǎn jiàn wéi shí. What you hear may be false, what you see is true.