1. Pre-Qin literature?
Pre-Qin literature includes three stages: primitive society, slave society and feudal society (early period) since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. Ballads and myths from ancient times are the source of Chinese literature. Pre-Qin literature used poetry, prose, etc. as the main literary styles.
Poetry is also represented by "The Book of Songs" and "Chu Ci". The Book of Songs spreads and influences later generations with the "six meanings" of wind, elegance, praise, fu, comparison and xing. Among the essays, "Zuo Zhuan", "Guoyu", "Warring States Policy", and essays by various scholars are the best. ?
2. Literature of the Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties?
Qin Shihuang unified China in 221 BC and established a unified centralized power. It opened a new page in history, but Due to the severe ideological control, Qin literature was blank.
Except for "Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals" compiled by Lu Buwei's disciples before the unification of Qin, and Li Si's prose, there are no other masterpieces to speak of. The literature of the Han Dynasty is represented by prose, Han Fu and Yuefu folk songs. Representative writers include Jia Yi, Chao Cuo, Sima Qian, etc.
Sima Qian's "Historical Records" records the three thousand years of history of our country from the legendary emperors to the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the spirit of "real records" that "does not falsely describe beauty and does not hide evil".
"Historical Records" was praised by Lu Xun as "the swan song of historians and the rhymeless Li Sao". A "Historical Records" has high historical and literary value.
Han Yuefu poetry brought fresh blood to the poetry world in the form of folk creations and narrative poems, providing examples and impetus for literati poetry creation. Han Yuefu folk songs are the third important stage of development in the history of the development of Chinese poetry, following the "Book of Songs" and "Chu Ci". It brewed the emergence of five-character poetry.
The literati five-character poems of the Eastern Han Dynasty were produced and developed on the basis of the Yuefu folk songs of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The extant "Nineteen Ancient Poems" by an unknown person is a representative work of five-character poems by Eastern Han literati.
With its high artistic attainments, it created a new style of lyric poetry in our country. The achievements of Han literature in prose and poetry prepared the conditions for Jian'an literature.
The literature of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was formed under the influence of metaphysics, a speculative philosophy. But literature is moving towards an era of self-consciousness. The literati showed a strong sense of worry, depression and self-awareness in their works.
The main literary achievement is poetry, the achievements of Jian'an literature represented by "Three Cao". Their tragic, generous, vigorous and powerful creative style was called "Jian'an style" or "Jian'an style" by later generations.
3. Literature of the Tang Dynasty?
The literature of the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties is represented by the literature of the Tang Dynasty. The Sui Dynasty was short and had little literary achievements. The main new literary genre "ci" in the literature of the Five Dynasties was developed. The "Huajian Ci" school, characterized by fragrance and softness, occupied the entire Ci world.
The "two masters of the Southern Tang Dynasty" Li Jing and Li Yu had higher achievements. Especially Li Yu's later poems were sad and deep, expressing his sorrow for losing his motherland. The Tang Dynasty was the golden period for the development of ancient literature.
Tang poetry is the pride of our country’s literature. There are more than 48,900 poems handed down. The world-class poets who emerged include Li Bai, Du Fu, etc. Their creations served as models for later generations and pushed ancient Chinese poetry to the highest peak in history.
The literary styles of the Tang Dynasty are complete, including poetry, prose, Tang legends, Ci, Bianwen, scripts, etc., which together constitute the prosperity of Tang Dynasty literature. The "Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty" pioneered a new path, breaking through the content of "palace style", opening up a new realm of poetry, and extending the theme of poetry from the palace to beyond the Great Wall.
Shen Quanqi and Song Zhiwen established the form of rhymed poetry. Chen Ziang denounced Qi and Liang poetry styles and praised the Jian'an style, which opened up a healthy path for the development of Tang poetry. The poets of the prosperous Tang Dynasty reflected the positive and romantic voice of the prosperous Tang Dynasty with their vigorous and passionate emotions and impassioned poems.
4. Literature of the Song Dynasty?
The literature of the Song Dynasty took poetry, lyrics, prose and story-telling novels as the main forms. The content is closely related to the times. It has the function of connecting the past and the future. The "Xikun style" poems were all the rage for a while. They whitewashed reality and praised peace as their main melody, and their thoughts were empty.
However, Yan Shu and Ouyang Xiu's Xiaoling poems have begun to get rid of the influence of Huajian Ci and show a clear and elegant style. Fan Zhongyan's poems are more vigorous and unique. Liu Yong and Su Shi put Ci on the road of innovation.
In the late Northern Song Dynasty, Zhou Bangyan paid attention to rhythm and used elegant and beautiful words to embellish the declining dynasty and bring peace back to the path of poetry that was divorced from reality.
5. Literature of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties
The thoughts of the Yuan Dynasty respected Buddhism and Taoism, and Confucianism was also promoted, but its status and influence were not as good as before. Literature experienced a change in vulgarity and elegance. Popular literature such as opera and Sanqu is loved by the general public. The main achievement of Yuan Dynasty literature is Qu. Yuan opera includes Zaju and Sanqu. Zaju is a drama, and Sanqu is a poem. Both of them are based on music and lyrics, so they are collectively called qu.
The main literary achievements of the Ming Dynasty were novels and operas. The Ming Dynasty novels, both long and short, showed unprecedented prosperity. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a long historical novel produced in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, pioneered chapter novels. Together with the heroic legendary novel "Water Margin", it summarizes history and reflects the profound reality.
The literature of the Qing Dynasty is the literature of the summary period of China's feudal society. There are many styles, each with its own characteristics, and novels have achieved the greatest success. The author deliberately made a careful and comprehensive analysis and reflection on social reality, life destiny and its direction, and has a strong social influence.
Pu Songling's "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" is a summary of classical Chinese novels, reflecting social life profoundly and comprehensively. Wu Jingzi's "The Scholars" pushed ancient satirical novels to the peak through detailed description and in-depth analysis of the ugliness of the scholars, and influenced the creation of modern writers.
Extended information
Chinese literature, in addition to having its own characteristics due to Chinese characters and language, also has its own unique system of literary concepts. This conceptual system is dominated by the traditional Chinese ideological system, and its ideological origin lies in the Confucian school founded by Confucius. Confucianism represented by Confucius and Mencius mainly affects China's national character and cultural thought in the following aspects.
First, it is the core of the worldly thought of "cultivating one's moral character, regulating one's family, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world" ("Book of Rites, University"); second, it is based on "benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, and wisdom". The third is the ethical concept based on the order of "Heaven, Earth, Lord, Relative, and Teacher"; the fourth is the golden mean based on "allowing to hold on to it" ("The Analects of Confucius") as the norm philosophy.
Under the control of this kind of thinking, Chinese literature, in which poetry and essays serve the function of education, focuses on political themes and ethical and moral themes. The tendency to treat literature as an appendage of politics and as didactic has been treated as a justifiable tendency.
The encounters between monarchs and ministers, the joys and sorrows of people's lives, the ups and downs of officialdom, the victory and defeat of wars, the rise and fall of countries, the gatherings and dispersions of life, the chaos of laws, the direction of ethics, etc., have always been the main theme of Chinese literature. , whether it is poetry, prose, novels or operas, it is no exception.
Confucian philosophy of worldliness and enlightenment concepts have brought political enthusiasm, enterprising spirit and sense of social mission to Chinese literature, but at the same time they have inhibited the release of self-love, the bursting of free personality and the exploration of self-awareness. , especially the Neo-Confucian concept of "preserving natural principles and destroying human desires", has cast a haze of rationalism on literature. Parallel to the above content and characteristics is the aesthetic pursuit of "gold mean".
Chinese literature emphasizes the beauty of balance, "happy but not obscene, sad but not sad", and generally does not express emotions too enthusiastically. Most of the Chinese old-style poems are emotional, implicit in thought, exhaustive in words and infinite in meaning, and they also show a strong color of rationalism.
Baidu Encyclopedia-History of Chinese Literature