Slide 1

ChinaA Journey To Its History And Literature

Formal name:Peoples Republic of China (PRC)Capital:BeijingGovernment type:Communist stateLegal System:Based on a civil law system, which was derived from the Soviet legal System.Population: 1.3Billion

China Quick Facts

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

Chinese Literary History

It has been said that Shang Dynasty flourished in 1600BC, during the Bronze age.

Literature

The Chinese Oracle Bones

Made around 1500 BC, during the time of Shang Dynasty

Used by priests to tell the future

The writing on these oracle bones is the same writing that people use in modern China, just in an earlier version.

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.

The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)

From this dynasty came two Chinese heritage sites: The Terracotta Army and the Great Wall of China

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

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

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 teachers were government officials.It was hard for Confucius to find a way to learn because he was poor.To solve this, he went to work for a nobleman. This gave him the opportunity to learn and to travel to the imperial 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.Kung Fu Tze

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

It is a collection of moral and ethical principles enunciated by the Chinese thinker Confucius (Kung Fu-tzu) around 500 BC in conversations with his disciples. These principles set standards forindividualconduct and the administration of government and community.The Confucian Analects

Tsze-kung asked what constituted the superior man. The Master said, "He acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions.

The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

"To have faults and not to reform them--this, indeed, should be pronounced having faults.

Excerpts from The Confucian Analects

Ssu Ma Chien (145-86 BC) is Chinas 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.

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

The Tang (618-907), along with the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE) that follows, is often referred to as China'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 Chinas Golden Age

Taoism

Tao (pronounced Dow) meansThe 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 Tang Xuan-Zong.

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.

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 lyrical poetry about love. Li Yian, a woman poet also became famous.

Tang Dynasty - Literature

Li Po 706-761 AD

Also called Li Bo or Li Bai

He wrote about the good things in life, emphasizing love, friendship, wine, nature and simple village living.

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 me know beforehand, And I will come out to meet you As far as Cho-fu-Sa. The River Merchants wife

Tu Fu

Also known as Du Fu

poet friend of Li bai

became known for his poem about war and bitter human experiences

The Solitary Goose

The solitary goose does not drink or eat,It flies about and calls, missing the flock.No-one now remembers this one shadow,They've lost each other in the myriad layers of cloud.It looks into the distance: seems to see,It's so distressed, it thinks that it can hear.Unconsciously, the wild ducks start to call,Cries of birds are everywhere confused.

The worlds oldest book The worlds 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.

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 Madmans Diary which serves as Lu Hsuns declaration of war against Chinese Literature.In the 1930s he became the titular head of the ChineseLeague of the Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.

The Diary of A 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 theFour booksandfive classicsof old Confucian culture, the diary writer, the supposed "madman", began to see the words "Eat People!" (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..."

Chinese Literary History

Summing Up

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 harmony so they came up with philosophies that might be helpful to achieve peace.

Kung Fu Tze, Confucianism and his teachings (The Confucian Analects)Ssu Ma Chien The Father of Chinese HistoryThe Ballad of Hua Mulan and its eraThe Golden Age of China : Why is it called the Golden Age? The Tang Dynasty (Taoism, Li Po, Tu Fu, and some of their works)Modern Chinese Literature: Lu Hsun