Chinese literature is one of the oldest and greatest of the world’s literatures. Chinese writers have produced important works for more than 3,000 years.
During most of China’s history, the Chinese did not consider literature a separate art form. They expected all cultured people to write in a graceful, elegant style, regardless of the topic. Many masterpieces of Chinese literature deal with subjects that some Western writers regard as nonliterary. These topics include history, philosophy, politics, religion, and science.
Until the 1900’s, government service was the occupation of greatest prestige in China. For more than 1,000 years, people gained a government position primarily by passing an examination that tested their ability to compose both poetry and prose. Almost all of China’s greatest writers before the 1900’s were government officials. Most of them received their appointments because of their skill with words.
Many works of Chinese literature teach a moral lesson or express a political philosophy. These themes appear especially in the writings of Confucians. Confucianism is a philosophy founded by Confucius, who lived from about 551 to 479 B.C. It was the dominant Chinese philosophy until the 1900’s. Many other writers were Buddhists or Taoists, rather than Confucians. Buddhism was a major Chinese religion, and Taoism was both an important religion and a philosophy. The Buddhists and Taoists were less interested than the Confucians in morality and politics. But they used literature to express religious and philosophical ideas.
During the 1900’s, Chinese literature made a sharp break with the past. This break resulted partly from the influence of Western culture on Chinese writers. But the rise of the Communist Party to power in China made an even greater impact. After the Communists took control of mainland China in 1949, the party required writers to conform to the ideals of socialist and revolutionary realism. Beginning in the 1980’s, the party relaxed its control over writers, and some authors even started to criticize the government.
Early Chinese literature
Beginnings.
One of the earliest works of Chinese literature was a collection of 300 poems called the Classic of Songs (also known as the Book of Songs). The earliest of these poems date back to the 1000’s B.C. Some of them may have originated as songs about farming, love, and war. Others were used in weddings and religious sacrifices. An early prose work was a collection of historical writings called the Classic of Documents (also known as the Book of Documents). It consists largely of speeches supposedly made by the earliest Chinese rulers. However, the speeches were probably fiction written during the Zhou dynasty (about 1045 to 256 B.C.).
The Classic of Songs and the Classic of Documents, along with three other books, formed the Five Classics and became the basis of Confucianism. The Confucians considered these books to be models of literary excellence. They also honored them as works of moral wisdom because the books emphasized Confucian ideals of duty, moderation, proper conduct, and public service.
Taoism probably began about 400 B.C., partly as a reaction against Confucianism. Unlike the Confucians, the Taoists believed people should avoid social obligations and live simply and close to nature. Taoist ideas influenced poets who wrote about the beauties of nature. Taoism produced two literary masterpieces. The Tao Te Ching is credited to Laozi, the founder of Taoism. However, many modern scholars propose that the work was written by multiple authors. Most of the other work, the Zhuangzi, is credited to the philosopher Zhuangzi.
An important collection of poems called the Songs of Chu appeared during the 300’s B.C. Most of them were probably written by a poet named Qu Yuan. Many of the poems describe flights to imaginary regions inhabited by mythical creatures, gods, and spirits. The ornate style of poems by Qu Yuan led to the development of the important literary style called fu or rhapsody during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). The earliest of these works, written in a mixture of rhymed and unrhymed lines, celebrate the majesty and splendor of the Han empire. Later fu contain expressions of personal sentiments and even criticisms of the imperial court.
From 220 to 589, China experienced a period of division. During this time, competing kingdoms, dynasties, and nomadic invaders ruled the northern and southern areas of the country. Poets began to write about new themes. Tao Qian wrote about the delights of living in the countryside. Xie Lingyun, inspired by Buddhism, composed poems on landscape themes. Also during this period, literary anthologies began to be arranged by genre (style). The most important of these anthologies is the Wen Xuan (Selections of Refined Literature), compiled under the direction of Xiao Tong, the crown prince of the Liang dynasty.
Poetry.
Perhaps the four greatest Chinese poets lived during the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907). They were, in the order of birth, Wang Wei, Li Bo, Du Fu, and Bo Juyi.
Wang Wei wrote four-line poems that describe scenes from nature. His works, which emphasize quiet and contemplation, show the influence of Buddhism.
Li Bo wrote imaginative poems about his dreams and fantasies and his love of wine. Unlike most poets of his time, he wrote in the style of old Chinese ballads.
Du Fu is considered China’s greatest poet by many critics. He surpassed all other Tang poets in range of style and subject matter. In some of his early poems, Du Fu expressed disappointment at failing an examination for government service. A bloody rebellion from 755 to 757 inspired him to write poems condemning the absurdity he saw in war. In his late poems, Du Fu emphasized clever use of language, developing a style that influenced Chinese poets for centuries.
Bo Juyi wrote satiric poems in ballad style. He protested against various government policies of his day.
A new form of poetry, the ci or song verse, became widely used during the Song dynasty (960-1279). Written in meters taken from musical tunes, this form allowed poets more freedom to express their personal sentiments. The best known ci poets were Su Shi and Li Qingzhao, a woman who became one of China’s greatest poets.
Drama and fiction
developed as important forms of Chinese literature during the 1200’s. Chinese plays resemble European opera, combining singing and dancing with dialogue. The two most famous Chinese plays are The Western Chamber, written by Wang Shifu, and Injustice to Tou O, written by Guan Hanqing. Both plays were written in the 1200’s. Tang Xianzu ranks as the greatest Chinese playwright. His most notable play was Peony Pavilion (about 1600).
Unknown professional writers rewrote traditional historical tales into complicated stories that resemble novels written by Western authors. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by an unknown author, is credited to Luo Guanzhong. It describes the struggle for power among three rival states during the late A.D. 100’s and early 200’s. Water Margin, also known as All Men Are Brothers, is traditionally attributed to Shi Nai’an. But some scholars claim that it was later revised by Luo Guanzhong, who perhaps worked with Shi Nai’an on the revisions. It tells about an outlaw gang that may have existed in the A.D. 1100’s.
A great comic novel, Journey to the West, appeared in the 1500’s. Sometimes called Monkey in the West, it is attributed to Wu Cheng’en. It describes a pilgrimage of a Buddhist monk in the A.D. 600’s. An unknown writer of the 1500’s wrote Golden Lotus, a famous novel about moral corruption. Dream of the Red Chamber, also called The Story of the Stone, is perhaps the greatest Chinese novel. It was written by Cao Xueqin in the 1700’s. It traces the decline of an aristocratic family.
Modern Chinese literature
Until the 1800’s, China was almost completely isolated from the West. Many European missionaries and traders traveled to China during the 1800’s, gradually exposing the Chinese to Western culture. In addition, several Western works were translated by Yen Fu and Lin Shu, and greater numbers of Chinese students began to study abroad in Europe, Japan, Russia, and the United States.
In the first decade of the 1900’s, Chinese novelists began writing about corruption, social issues, and changing morals. An important influence on literature was the New Culture Movement in the 1910’s and 1920’s. Writers turned away from traditional Confucian ideas and values and sought to create a new, modern form of Chinese culture.The literary reformer Hu Shih recommended the exclusive use of everyday language in literature, rather than the classical literary form used for centuries.
The most important writers of this period include Lu Xun and Ding Ling. Lu Xun wrote satiric stories of social criticism. Ding Ling, one of the best known modern Chinese woman writers, published a story in 1928 centering on female sexual desire, which shocked many readers. The poet Wen Yiduo wrote verse based on Western models. Eileen Chang (Zhang Ailing) was a much admired and influential writer in the mid-1940’s, toward the end of this period. She became best known for her stories about troubled male-female romantic relationships.
The Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong, came to power in 1949 after a long civil war. They demanded that all literature serve the new state and ordered writers to create works that could be easily understood by the peasants, soldiers, and workers. In addition, the heroes of literary works had to represent the working class. Some older writers in China attacked the new literature, which they considered dull. The government prohibited these writers from publishing their works.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), government authorities led by Mao Zedong’s wife, Jiang Qing, persecuted many intellectuals, writers, and artists. Unskilled workers and peasants wrote most of the works that were published. In 1976, the government began to allow writers more artistic freedom. Political and social themes dominated published works, and some writers dared to write works that criticized the government. Important writers included Liu Binyan, Zhang Jie, and Wang Meng.
During the 1990’s, a number of Chinese writers began to publish on the internet . Since that time, internet literature has become a major form of modern Chinese literature. Internet literature is digitally created and first published on the internet. Starting in the 1990’s, writers in China have been relatively free as long as they do not openly criticize party policy. In 2000, Gao Xingjian, a Chinese writer living in Paris, became the first Chinese author to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Other important fiction writers include Wang Shuo, Mo Yan, and Su Tong. Mo Yan received the 2012 Nobel Prize in literature. Science fiction is popular in China. The most popular Chinese science fiction author is Cixin Liu. The poet Bei Dao (Zhao Zhenkai) is widely read in China and in other countries.
Writers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore have produced important works of Chinese literature. Major Taiwanese authors include the poets Yang Mu (C. H. Wang), Yu Kuang-chung, and Lo Ch’ing (who is also a famous painter); and the fiction writers Pai Hsien-yung, Wang Wen-hsing, and Ch’en Jo-hsi (also known as Chen Ruoxi). Jin Yong of Hong Kong, who writes martial arts fiction, is the most widely read Chinese author in the world.
