2. The development history of classical Chinese:
Classical Chinese is the written language in ancient China, mainly including the written language based on the spoken language in the pre-Qin period. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, no articles were invented to record characters, but bamboo slips, silks and other things were used to record characters, and silks were expensive, bamboo slips were huge and the number of words recorded was limited. In order to record more things on a roll of bamboo slips, unimportant words must be deleted. Later, when "paper" was used on a large scale, the habit of using "official documents" among the ruling classes had been finalized, and the ability to use "classical Chinese" had evolved into a symbol of reading and literacy. Classical Chinese comes from vernacular Chinese, which is characterized by writing based on words, paying attention to allusions, parallel prose, neat rhythm and punctuation, including strategy, poetry, words, songs, stereotyped writing, parallel prose and ancient prose.
The main characteristics of classical Chinese:
The first word "Wen" means beauty. The word "Yan" means writing, expressing and recording. The word "classical Chinese" means written language. Classical Chinese is relative to spoken Chinese, which is also called vernacular Chinese. The last word "Wen" refers to works, articles, etc. , and represents the genre.
"Classical Chinese" means "beautiful language articles", which is also called stylistic writing. And "vernacular" means: "articles written in ordinary and plain oral language", such as "have you eaten?" .
In ancient China, it was different to express the same thing in "spoken language" (written language). For example, if you want to ask someone if they have eaten, you can express it in spoken English as "Have you eaten?" And expressed in written language, it is "rice?" . "Fanbu" is classical Chinese. Here, the noun "Fanbu" is used as a verb, which means to eat.
Before 19 18, China's articles were all written in classical Chinese. Now we generally call "ancient Chinese" "classical Chinese".
In the history of China for thousands of years, great changes have taken place in spoken English, but the classical Chinese has always maintained a similar format. Classical Chinese can make users of different languages "talk in writing", which is a fixed format but not very difficult way of communication.
3. What is the origin of ancient classical Chinese in China? It has always been difficult for ancient classical Chinese, because there are few words and many rare words in ancient Chinese, so it is difficult to understand. However, they are always impressed by the short and pithy sentences and profound articles of the ancients, so they often sigh with their friends: the exquisiteness of the ancient words and sentences and the wonderful dialectical theory, including extensive and profound research on astronomical phenomena, geography, mathematics, politics and military affairs, really make people feel that everything in the world is extensive. Today, it seems that we only admire research and explanation.
In particular, classical Chinese, an eloquent ancient poem, is known as "Tang poetry and Song poetry are written in Chinese", which is the common sense of literature in junior high school, that is, the literary achievements in these three periods have reached the highest level in China's history so far. Wave upon wave is the ideological achievement of a hundred schools of thought contending during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which is vividly expressed through the easy-to-understand ancient prose. Looking back, it was Yuan Zaju and novels in Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Without exception, they all belong to the classical Chinese sequence.
So what are the remarkable characteristics of classical Chinese? One is to use simple words; Second, make good use of allusions; Third, there are many function words.
Why are these characteristics formed? As a layman, I think there are several reasons:
First, the ancients did not write on hard objects such as Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bamboo slips, but lettering, which was time-consuming, laborious and material-consuming, so try to be concise, and one word can represent two words or even a sentence. Later, silk and paper were very expensive, so this word has been preserved.
Second, because of this thrifty technique, syllable sentences are often incomplete when narrating lyricism, so function words with no practical significance are used to supplement and form complete sentences. In addition, few people were literate at that time, and scholars exchanged ideas in the language of article genre when they met, which also encouraged and developed the use of function words.
Third, the ancients sang well. Just like today's ethnic minorities still have this specialty, it is the need of cultural inheritance and one of the manifestations of cultural poverty. However, it is this characteristic of singing that makes Song Ci develop greatly. The rhythm of Song Ci is very musical, which can be heard all over the street at that time, just like the popular songs today. In fact, Fu, which is called China's essay, has gorgeous words and a strong sense of rhythm. These articles are one of the reasons why function words can last forever. The same is true of Yuan Zaju, whose function words bear the special imprint of drama. However, in Ming and Qing novels, this kind of function word "even the speaker is also" is relatively rare.
Fourthly, as for the use of allusions, this is a manifestation of the extensive knowledge of the ancients, and it is also an example of demonstrating reasoning and enhancing appeal. Of course, there is no lack of need to show off.
In fact, today's articles, especially red tape articles, should learn from the ancients. In addition to function words, we should also vigorously advocate concise words and appropriate allusions. We might as well launch a campaign of "Retro Classical Chinese" to locate the year of retro classical Chinese in a certain school year of senior high school (suitable for senior two), so that future generations can learn from the rich cultural thoughts of China ancients.
This article is quoted from:
When it comes to classical Chinese, everyone will think of the characteristics of "what" in classical Chinese. Now we have abandoned classical Chinese and used vernacular Chinese. The history of classical Chinese is thousands of years, and the history of vernacular Chinese is only one hundred years. Why classical Chinese has such a long history mainly stems from its advantages.
First, the characteristics:
1. The greatest advantage of classical Chinese is "conciseness". A story can be finished in a few words, but it is different in vernacular Chinese, which requires a lot of words.
2. Separate words from words. Language will change with the changes of the times, so if language and writing are consistent, after hundreds of years, language has changed, and what people wrote in the past, you will definitely not understand. Westerners don't have the tool of classical Chinese. Like Europe, Latin is their ancient script, and it is also Sanskrit in India. Few modern people can understand it. Only a few archaeologists and experts can understand some of them, and they can't fully understand it. After the changes of the times, the disadvantages brought by the synchronization of language and characters have been exposed.
Classical Chinese has no punctuation, so we have to use "whatever it is" instead. It's a bit like too many auxiliary words in Japanese.
Second, the reason for brevity is mainly because writing was slow and slow at that time:
1. At that time, it was a traditional Chinese character, and writing was very slow. Writing words slowly will only make sentences shorter.
At that time, writing with a brush or even carving with a knife was far less skilled than using a pen and ballpoint pen now.
3. The original words were mainly written on tortoise shells, shells, metals, stones, fabrics, bamboo slips and other bulky or valuable things. Not too much, or you can't move.
4. The development history of ancient languages in China is 1. Primitive society basically had no culture.
2. At the end of primitive society, early culture began to appear: symbols depicting similar characters; Dance and music (including musical instruments); Urban architecture; Etiquette; Art, etc
3. In the slave society (Xia, Shang and Western Zhou), theocracy was supreme, bronze culture was highly developed, and mature characters appeared.
4. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a hundred schools of thought contended and formed the cultural system of China.
5. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Buddhism and Taoism appeared, Confucianism established its dominant position, Legalism became a practical tool for the emperor's autocratic rule, a national education system was established throughout the country, words were unified, paper was invented, and Chinese culture developed greatly.
6. In the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty, the Southern and Northern Dynasties, culture was destroyed by war, but new cultures, such as metaphysics, also appeared.
7. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, China culture reached the peak of prosperity and stood proudly in the east of the world.
8. The Song Dynasty was the most developed period of China culture, from prosperity to decline. Neo-Confucianism appeared and later established its dominant position.
9. China's culture itself was severely damaged in the Yuan Dynasty, but its foreign exchange was greatly strengthened.
10. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, China culture was stagnant and difficult to develop.
1 1. Since the late Qing Dynasty, China's culture has been strongly influenced by western culture, and its thoughts are active, but it has been severely damaged and the ideological trend is surging.
5. What about the history of classical Chinese? Since the Shang Dynasty produced a mature word, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Oracle Bone Inscriptions, it can be said that the history of classical Chinese began. We know that the form, sound and meaning of words are changing from ancient times to the present. Although we don't know how to pronounce a word in ancient times, we can still identify its meaning according to its shape. This is the characteristic of ideographic writing. Therefore, people who use different dialects in different places can understand the meaning of sentences according to their glyphs. Some people think that Chinese characters have strong cultural cohesion and Chinese civilization has lasted for thousands of years. It can be said that Chinese characters contribute a lot. According to the history of ancient Chinese development and ancient literature, classical Chinese in middle schools can be divided into four categories. One is prose and the other is poetry. Fourth, the ancient vernacular. The following narrative is based on dynasties and writers' works. (1) Prose of Pre-Qin philosophers, including The Analects of Confucius and Mozi recorded in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the early Warring States Period; By the mid-Warring States period, it gradually developed from a recorded style to dialogic argumentative essays and monographs such as Mencius and Zhuangzi. Xunzi, Han Feizi, Lu Chunqiu and The Book of Rites, one of the Confucian classics, are all monographs in the late Warring States period. The essays of various schools are mostly philosophical works, so they are also called philosophical essays, which belong to the category of essays. Ideologically, everyone insists on independent thinking and expresses their opinions. For example, Confucius advocated benevolence, righteousness, etiquette and music, Mozi advocated universal love, Zhuangzi advocated natural inaction, and Han Feizi advocated it. The prose of the pre-Qin philosophers first established the system of argumentation. Prose of pre-Qin philosophers had a far-reaching influence on China's political system, culture and art for thousands of years. Confucius (55 BC1~ 479), the word, second, was a native of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period. Confucius was a great man in ancient China. One of the most famous cultural celebrities in the world. He compiled China's first chronological history book Spring and Autumn Annals. According to relevant records, Confucius was born in Changping Township (now Luyuan Village, Nanxin Town, southeast of Qufu City, Shandong Province). Confucius died at the age of 73 and was buried in Surabaya, north of Qufu, where today's Konglin is located. His words and deeds are mainly contained in the Analects of Confucius and Historical Records preserved in the pre-Qin and Qin and Han dynasties. Confucius' family. He took saving the world and loving the people as his own responsibility, and with a huge political and philosophical gap with the rulers, he reformed and updated the traditional philosophical foundation of "harmony between man and nature", formed a whole set of Confucian theoretical system with "benevolence" as the core and "ceremony" as the form, truly constructed the core order of ancient China, and cast the essence of China's traditional humanistic spirit and the soul of the Chinese nation. Zi was a descendant of Lu Guoqing's father in the Warring States Period, a famous thinker and educator in ancient China, and a representative of Confucianism in the Warring States Period. He wrote a book, Mencius. Mencius inherited and carried forward Confucius' thoughts and became a master of Confucianism after Confucius. He was called a "saint" and collectively called "Confucius and Mencius". It became the core of his political thought. Mencius closely combined ethics with politics, emphasizing that moral cultivation is the basis of doing a good job in political work. Mencius' thoughts are reflected in the book Mencius. "Benevolent politics" is the core content of his political thought. He advocated "serving people with virtue" and opposed violence in governing the country. He believes that only by using "virtue" can people be "completely convinced" and "value the people and despise the monarch". Regard the monarch as light "and put the people first. The Book of Rites is an anthology of Confucian scholars' articles from the Warring States to the Qin and Han Dynasties. It is also a compilation of Confucian ideas. It is also an important law book in ancient China and one of the Confucian classics. There is more than one author of The Book of Rites, and the time for its completion also follows. Most of the chapters may be the works of 72 closed disciples of Confucius and their students. It also accepts other ancient books and records in the pre-Qin period. The Book of Rites was compiled by Dade, a ritual musician in the Western Han Dynasty, and his nephew Dai Sheng Dade. Among them, 85 articles were called "Li Ji of the Great Generation", but only 39 articles were left in the Tang Dynasty in the later circulating process. The forty-nine articles selected by Dai Shengxuan are the Dai Xiao and Li Ji that we see today. These two books have their own emphases and choices. Zheng Xuan, a famous scholar, made an excellent interpretation of The Rites of Little Dai. Later, this book became popular and gradually became a classic by explaining the scriptures. It is listed as one of the "Nine Classics" in the Tang Dynasty and one of the "Thirteen Classics" in the Song Dynasty, and it has become a must-read book for scholars. Mozi Mozi (about 468 BC ~ 376 BC) was named Zhai, a native of Tengzhou, Shandong, Han nationality. The founder of Mohism. He once put forward the views of "universal love", "mutual non-aggression" and "saving money for burial" and founded Mohism. A book called Mozi was handed down from generation to generation. Mohism had a great influence at that time. It was also called "learning of Excellence" with Confucianism. The so-called universal love is equality and fraternity, which is contrary to the Confucian exclusive love ("kissing is skillful, respecting the virtuous, etc.)." It is believed that the phenomenon that people in the world don't love each other is the reason why people in society have strong and weak points and the rich despise the poor. At the same time, Mozi also saw that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the biggest drawback was war. Therefore, starting from the idea of universal love, he extended that he would not attack, oppose war and advocate peace. Universal love and non-aggression are Mozi's most famous thoughts. Funeral frugality is a very important point of view of Mohism. They criticized monarchs and nobles. People think that a long funeral is not good for society. People think that monarchs and nobles should live a clean and thrifty life like three generations of ancient saints. Mozi asked Mohism to practice in this respect. Xunzi Xunzi (about 3 13- 238 BC) was a thinker, educator and writer in the Warring States period, and was a native of Zhao. At that time, people addressed him as Xun Qing, and he was a confidant of the Han Dynasty.
6. Overview of the development history of China ancient prose: 1. Ancient prose: In ancient China, in order to distinguish it from rhyming and parallel prose, all prose articles, including classics, biographies and history books, which did not rhyme or rearrange even order, were called prose.
The development of China's ancient prose: (1) Pre-Qin prose: including hundred schools of thought's prose and historical prose. Hundred schools of thought's essays are mainly expositions, such as The Analects of Confucius, Mencius and Zhuangzi. Historical prose mainly focuses on historical themes, and all articles and books describing historical events and historical figures are historical prose, such as Zuo Zhuan.
(2) Prose in the Han Dynasty: Sima Qian's Historical Records in the Western Han Dynasty pushed biographical prose to an unprecedented peak. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, individual prose forms such as books, notes, inscriptions, essays and prefaces began to appear.
Prose in Tang and Song Dynasties: Under the impetus of the ancient prose movement, prose writing became increasingly complex, and literary prose appeared, resulting in many excellent works such as landscape travel notes, fables, biographies and essays. And the famous "Eight Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties" also emerged at this time. (3) Prose in the Ming Dynasty: First, there were "Seven Scholars", mainly imitating ancient times. Later, in the Tang and Song Dynasties, all works were advocated to flow from the chest, the most famous of which was Gui Youguang.
Qing dynasty prose: represented by Tongcheng school, Qing dynasty prose pays attention to the embodiment of "righteousness" Yao Nai, a representative writer of Tongcheng School, summed up the style of ancient Chinese prose and classified it into 13 categories, including argumentative essays, prefaces and postscripts, recitation, calligraphy, preface, imperial edict, biography, epitaph, miscellaneous words, ode, ci fu and mourning.
7. What is the development process of classical Chinese? "Classical Chinese" means "articles written in written language". And "vernacular" means: "articles written in plain spoken language".
In ancient China, it was different to express the same thing in spoken and written language. For example, if you want to ask someone if they have eaten, you can express it in spoken English as "Have you eaten?" And using books and language to express it is "rice?" . "Fanbu" is classical Chinese. In ancient China, all articles were written in written language. Therefore, now we generally refer to ancient Chinese as "classical Chinese"; Classical Chinese is a treasure of China culture, and the ancients left us a lot of classical Chinese. In China, the study of classical Chinese plays a very important role in the Chinese curriculum in middle schools.
Chinese mainland's revival of classical Chinese began to sprout in 1980s. The concept of revival of classical Chinese was clearly put forward by Liu Zhou, a young scholar, in The First Step of Cultural Revival in China (Suggestions). In 2007, Guangming Daily published "Hundred Cities Fu", which showed the state's attitude towards the revival of classical Chinese. The proposal of the revival of classical Chinese was put forward by a young scholar, which shows that the development potential of the revival of classical Chinese is very strong.