With the development of history, pre-Qin literature showed different characteristics in different stages, which can be roughly divided into three periods: Xia and Shang Dynasties, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period.
Wang Guowei's "On Yin and Zhou System" said: "Xia and Shang cultures are similar. Hong Fan had nine realms, and the emperor was the master of Yu, but it was passed down. In midsummer, if you wear armor, if you are Kong Jia, if you are a prostitute, you will start with the Japanese name and the Yin people will inherit it. " (Viewing the Hall and Gathering Forests, Volume 10) Not only some of the same systems, but also the ideologies that run through these systems run through Xia and Shang cultures, all of which are based on primitive religions. Witch culture is the most representative of Xia-Shang culture, at this time, Xia-Shang literature is closely related to primitive religion.
Legend has it that Nanyin originated from Tu Shanshi's Song of Waiting for People, and Dongyin originated from Xia Kong Jia's Song of Broken Axe. It can be considered that there have been relatively complete poems in Xia and Shang Dynasties. For example, Nine Songs by Xia Qishi, which is repeatedly mentioned in Songs of the South, is a ballad handed down from the Xia Dynasty. According to Shan Hai Jing Huang Da Xi Jing, Nine Songs came from Xia Qi. It is conceivable that the ancient nine songs were related to the activities of offering sacrifices to heaven in the Xia Dynasty and should be a kind of sacrificial ballad. Poems of Shang Dynasty, such as five poems in The Book of Songs, were spread from Shang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty. These poems sing praises to ancestors, sing and dance to entertain the gods, and are all used for sacrifice. They are very close to Tuesday's "Ya" in describing merits and praising saints, and their performance skills are very high. The rhymes of Shang Dynasty also include some hexagrams in Zhouyi, which mostly appear in the form of ballads and proverbs. If "Zhan Duan Ci" is omitted, it will be a short and pithy poem. The content of poetry is either complaining about the world and pain, or expressing love and praising labor. It uses symbolism, contrast, line drawing, repetition and other techniques to express the characteristics of China's ancient poetry in its infancy.
The prosperity of witch history culture also promoted the development of prose. Yu Gong and Shi Gan recorded in Shangshu are said to be the remains of Xia Dynasty. Gong Yu lists Kyushu, which is a geographical concept that Xia people can't have. It can be inferred that it was added by Zhou people. "Shi Gan" records that Xia Qifa was in power, with simple words and simple meaning, which was also remembered by later generations. Complete prose works appeared in Shang Dynasty, and its representative is Shangshu. Among them, Pan Geng is a reliable work of Yin people, which records the commandments published by Pan Kang when he moved to the capital of Yin, and has ancient characters. The other four chapters in Shangshu have been polished by later generations, not their original appearance. These articles show that witch history plays an increasingly important role in politics, history and other fields.
With the implementation of the enfeoffment system in the early Zhou Dynasty. The history of China has entered a new stage. From Duke Zhou's "system of rites and music" to Confucius's "self-denial", the old witchcraft religious culture was gradually replaced, and the ritual and music culture became the mainstream. That is to say, from the Western Zhou Dynasty, China entered the stage of rational civilization marked by rites and music. The spiritual essence of "rites and music" is a kind of conscious recognition of social order, and these concepts or systems of "rites and music" developed from the primitive witch worship of the previous generation, especially from the witch worship ceremony, such as funeral ceremony and drinking ceremony in rural areas. The purpose of these ceremonies is to maintain the hierarchical system, and its core is some political and ethical concepts such as "virtue" and "benevolence". It was in this way that the cultural reformers in the Zhou Dynasty skillfully completed the breakthrough of rational culture to primitive culture. As Wang Guowei said: "The great change of Yin and Zhou Dynasties, from its own words, is nothing more than the transfer of the rise and fall of one surname and one clan. In its own words, the old system is abolished and the new system is prosperous, and the old culture is abolished and the new culture is prosperous. " ("Guan Zhou System")
The rational spirit of respecting morality in the Zhou Dynasty affirmed the status of human society and people themselves, various gods were suspected and denied to varying degrees, and the strong witchcraft religious color in the Yin and Shang Dynasties was reduced. Zhou literature pays more attention to history, society and life. The concern for history stems from the concern for reality. When the gods no longer act as the driving force of people's behavior and no longer point out the direction for people, the significance of history appears. Especially in the era of social change, people need to look for the basis and lessons of behavior from history. Therefore, the historical consciousness of the Zhou Dynasty developed unprecedentedly, and the original religious responsibility of historians quickly faded. They consciously shoulder the responsibility for reality with their own historical knowledge and professional beliefs, and the so-called "historian culture" is mature. Zhou Shu's Letters Patent and Oath recorded the history of conquering merchants in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty in the form of documents, reflecting the social relations and political ideals of Zhou people in the early Zhou Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, all countries had history books, represented by Lv Chunqiu. The existing Spring and Autumn Annals of Lu Zhi was revised by Confucius, and its basic spirit is "the division of Dao Ming" ("Zhuangzi Tianxia"), that is, it stresses the social ethical order and entrusts its own social ideal by choosing historical facts to include praise and criticism. Obviously, Confucius expressed his concern for reality by compiling history. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Zuozhuan and Guoyu also appeared. These two books inherit and develop the realistic spirit and expression techniques of Spring and Autumn Annals, advocate Confucianism such as respecting morality, honoring ceremony, respecting kings and resisting foreigners, and lay a solid foundation for protecting the people. Zuo Zhuan is the pinnacle of pre-Qin historical biographical prose. It records historical facts, portrays images, and matures China's narrative prose with superb expressive techniques, thus creating a precedent for historical biographical prose such as Warring States Policy and Historical Records. "Guoyu" focuses on memorizing words, using elegant and concise words, and depicting plots and characters through character language. Although his literary achievement is slightly inferior to Zuo Zhuan, it is also highly praised by later generations.
In addition to historical works, some outstanding cultural masters in the Spring and Autumn Period turned their eyes directly to the real society and life, and constructed various social ideals. As a result, reasoning prose has developed by leaps and bounds, and the Analects of Confucius, Mozi and Laozi, which combine rhyme and prose, have appeared. The Analects of Confucius is a record of Confucius' words and deeds, the most concentrated embodiment of the thought of ruling by virtue in pre-Qin dynasty, and the expression of Confucius' eager concern for reality. The Confucianism it shows has become the cornerstone of China's traditional culture. The Analects of Confucius is concise and full of rhyme. Mozi stood as a small producer and advocated an equal, simple, peaceful and religious social lifestyle. Mozi developed logic and plain writing. The book Laozi was seen in the social chaos and evil, which put forward the social and political ideal of "governing by doing nothing", expressed the introspection and criticism of reality, directly led to the establishment of the Taoist school, and had a great influence in the cultural history of China. Books are scattered and rhyming, changing naturally and not sticking to one pattern.
The spirit and style of Zhou literature are characterized by harmony and elegance, grace and satire. This feature is manifested in various styles, such as "calligraphy" in historical documents such as Chunqiu and Zuozhuan, which reflects the author's good intentions. The Book of Songs takes "Bi Xing" as the main artistic means, and then it is sung repeatedly, resulting in a kind of implicit effect. Liu Xie concluded: "Poetry focuses on expressing ambition, exegeting the same book, full of enthusiasm, rhetoric and tenderness, so it is the most affectionate." (Wen Xin Diao zong long Jing). That is to say, the Book of Songs uses metaphor, with beautiful words and twists and turns, which can best meet people's inner feelings. This aesthetic tendency was upheld by other styles in later generations. Call it "Fu, Fu, Song and Praise, and the Book of Songs will stand on its foundation" (Wen Xin Diao Zong Long Jing).
The Warring States period is another major era of change in Chinese history. With the decline of the Emperor of Zhou, the ritual and music system collapsed in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Out of a sense of responsibility for society and concern for life, representatives of various factions wrote books, criticized the shortcomings of the times, expounded their political views and argued with each other, forming a situation of "a hundred schools of thought contend". In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Sima Tan summarized the "hundred schools" as six schools: Yin and Yang, Confucianism, Mohism, Ming, France and Germany. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Xin added four novels, namely Agriculture, Zongheng, Za and Novels, in addition to the six. Each school has discussed natural, social, life, political and theoretical issues from different starting points. As far as its influence on harmony is concerned, Zhuang Zhou of Taoism, Monk of Confucianism and Xun Qing, Han Fei of Legalism and Strategist are the most important. Although people have different opinions, they all have the unique cultural temperament of the Warring States period.
First of all, they are based on reality and focus on reality, and rarely mention the popular "destiny" thought in the Spring and Autumn Period. Although Zhuangzi's thought is mysterious, it is based on a clear understanding of reality, not to mention a utilitarian legalist and strategist. What they value is the political situation and political means. Confucianism also developed during the Warring States period. Confucius' thought of "respecting ghosts and gods" and "fearing life" is very weak in Mencius. Mencius talked more about practical problems and designed an ideal blueprint for society. It is precisely because of their more sober realistic consciousness that their profound understanding and sharp criticism of social reality in their prose is unprecedented.
Secondly, because literati have become the center of culture and even politics, they no longer blindly identify with a certain established order, and their conscious creative spirit has been greatly enhanced. Although they work in different directions, they all break through the gentle fashion in the Spring and Autumn Period and often show strong personality and passion. The most representative are Mencius and Zhuangzi. Mencius claimed that "I am good at nurturing my noble spirit" (Mencius Ugliness), despised the wealth of kings with benevolence and righteousness, and claimed to be the teacher of emperors. Therefore, his writing style is very imposing, treating dissatisfied kings and calling them "I don't look like a gentleman." The article is sharp-edged and full of passion. Zhuangzi's articles are flowing, laughing and cursing, exaggerating to the extreme, and satirizing and criticizing are very penetrating. Strategists also have their own personalities, such as Su Qin who is competitive, Zhang Yi who is treacherous and eloquent, Lv Zhonglian who is completely honest but strong and weak, and so on.
As far as the style of writing is concerned, a hundred flowers are blooming at this time. Scholars have different life experiences, different cultural upbringing, different specific environments, different political views and different literary concepts, so the article presents different styles. For example, in order to satirize social reality and express mysterious and subtle thoughts, Zhuangzi creatively used literary techniques such as "fable", "tautology" and "nonsense", which made his articles full of fantastic ideas. It is with "unspoken words" and "unspoken arguments" that he makes people "get carried away", and he consciously uses a kind of expression technique of saying one thing and meaning another, and his heart is in harmony, so as to achieve "seeking from the surface of words and meaning, and entering the realm of words and meaning" (Guo Xiang's "Zhuangzi Qiushui" note). Mencius was deeply concerned about social reality and eager to save the world. His sense of morality and mission made him have a strong personality, so he was very imposing to people. Mencius' prose is full of twists and turns, intense and eye-catching, coupled with vivid metaphors, which makes the style of writing extremely strong and full of charm. Xunzi's style is similar to that of Mencius, with good eloquence, but more intensive reasoning, good at metaphor and arrangement. Guo Moruo summed up its overall style with the word "vigorous", and the strategists were the most active political forces in the Warring States period. Most of them are "committed to the balance of vertical and horizontal forces, taking attacking and cutting as sacred" (Historical Records, Mencius and Biography of Xun Qing), and actively participate in the political, military and diplomatic activities of vassal States, so the power of language is extremely important to them. They make full use of literary techniques such as exaggeration, parallelism, fable and rhyme to make their language inflammatory. Therefore, The Warring States Policy is fantastic, magnificent and graceful. Han Feizi despises the traditional thought of ruling by virtue through rites and music, and has a profound understanding of real politics. His theories of "potential", "law" and "technique" show naked utilitarian tendency. His article is reckless, steep and sharp, penetrating and hearty. During the Warring States Period, Qu Yuan, the State of Chu, opened a wonderful flower, which made a great splash in ancient and modern times. Qu Yuan is one of the greatest writers in the history of China literature. On the eve of the overthrow of his country, he was relegated, unable to serve the country, full of resentment, and wrote poems and essays. Qu Fu shows Qu Yuan's beautiful political ideal and noble personality sentiment with uneven sentence patterns, gorgeous rhetoric and rich imagination, which is another poetic peak after The Book of Songs.
In short, the ideological and cultural fields were very active during the Warring States period, and the situation of a hundred schools of thought contended promoted the prosperity of literature, resulting in prose and poetry with different styles from the previous generation. Zhang Xuecheng, a native of the Qing Dynasty, said: "The article changed from the Warring States to the Warring States, and the writings were devoted to the Warring States, and the styles of later generations were prepared in the Warring States. Therefore, the paper was written in the Warring States period, and the reasons for the rise and fall are also known. " (on poetry teaching, literature and history)