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What are the different dynastic eras that
21st Century Literature from the Philippines framed the literature in China?
and the World - ASIAN LITERATURE
1. Shang Dynasty (about 1700-1050 BC)
• The development of Chinese system of
CHINA
writing.
✓ One of the major literary heritages of the
• The first dynasty for which there is historical
world, with an uninterrupted history of more
record and archaeological evidence.
than 3,000 years, dating back to at least 14th
century BCE.
2. Zhou Dynasty (1045-255 BC)
• Basic Philosophical and Religious Literature
✓ The origin of the Chinese language is lost,
• The great literary works of philosophy and
but there is no doubt that it is the most
religion that became the basis for Chinese
ancient spoken- and probably the oldest
religious and social belief stem from what is
written language still used by humans.
called the Spring and Autumn Period (770-
476) and the Warring States Period (475-
✓ Chinese literature, especially poetry, is
221).
recorded in handwriting or in print and
• Taoism, Confucian literature, and other
purports to make an aesthetic appeal to the
prominent religious and philosophical
reader that is visual as well as aural.
schools all emerged during these two
periods.
✓ All major types of Chinese poetry were
originally sung to the accompaniment of
3. Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
music.
• Literary Disaster and Legalism
• The Qin emperor ordered the destruction of
✓ Chinese poetry, besides depending on end
most books all over the empire, and killed
rhyme and tonal meter for its cadence, is many Confucian philosophers and teachers.
characterized by its compactness and He even wanted to reduce the One Hundred
brevity. Schools of Thought to one that he approved.
• He allowed books on scientific subjects like
What are the literary works common in Chinese medicine or agriculture to survive. So, the
literature? “Book Burning and Burial of Scholars” was a
✓ Chinese literary works include fiction, literary disaster.
philosophical and religious works, poetry, • The Qin Dynasty standardized the written
and scientific writings, and are framed by the Classical Language. It is said that a minister
different dynastic eras and are examined one of the Qin emperor named Li Si introduced a
by one. writing system that later developed into
modern Chinese writing.
4. Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)
• Scientific and Historical Texts
• Sima Qian wrote Historical Records that is a
major history concerning the overall history
of China from before the Shang Dynasty until
References:
• https://www.scribd.com/document/412634387/21st-Century-Literature-of-the-Philippines-and-of-the-World-1
• Li, et al. (2023). Chinese Literature. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese-literature
• (1968). Tang’s golden age. Retrieved from: https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20,20,29,35,35,45&post=25909
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the Han Dynasty. The book’s prose was to the establishment of public schools
considered a model for writers in succeeding throughout the empire (from 1044). Nearly all
dynastic eras. the literary genres in verse and prose were
• Cai Lun (50–121) of the imperial court is said continued, and some trends, begun in Tang
to be the first person in the world to create times, were accelerated.
writing paper, and this was important for
written communication at the end of the • Travel literature in which authors wrote about
empire. their trips and about various destinations
became popular perhaps because the texts
5. Tang Dynasty (618-907) could be cheaply bought.
• Early woodblock printing and poetry
• The Tang dynasty (618-907) became the • The Confucian Classics were codified and
golden age of Chinese poetry. More than used as test material for the entrance
2,000 poets of note produced nearly 50,000 examination into the elite bureaucracy,
poems of literary value. advanced scientific texts and atlases were
published, and important poems were written.
• The Tang Dynasty had a big empire that
benefited from trade with the west along the
• The Five Classics and Four Books were written
Silk Road, battled with the Tibetan Empire,
in the written Classical Language.
and experienced the growing influence of
organized Buddhist religions. The Five Classics include: The Book of
• This era’s main contribution to Chinese Changes, The Classic of Poetry, The Record of
literature was in the poetry of Dufu, Li Bai and Rites (that was a recreation of the original
many other poets. Dufu and Li Bai are often Classic of Rites of Confucius that was lost in
thought of as China’s greatest poets. the Qin book purge), The Classic of History,
• Li Bai (701–762) was one of the greatest and The Spring and Autumn Annals that was
romantic poets of ancient China, and wrote mainly a historical record of Confucius' native
at least a thousand poems on a variety of state of Lu.
subjects from political matters to natural
scenery. The Four Books include: The Analects of
• Du Fu (712-770 AD) also wrote more than a Confucius that is a book of pithy sayings
thousand poems. He is thought of as one of attributed to Confucius and recorded by his
the greatest realist poets of China. disciples; Mencius that is a collection of
political dialogues attributed to Mencius; The
6. Song Dynasty (960-1279) Doctrine of the Mean; and The Great Learning
• Early Woodblock Printing, Travel Literature, that is a book about education, self-cultivation,
Poetry, Scientific Texts, and the Neo- and the Dao. For foreigners who want a taste
Confucian Classics of this Confucian philosophy, reading the
• The era is divided into two eras called the Analects of Confucius is a good introduction
Northern Song (960-1127) and Southern since the statements are usually simple and
Song (1127-1279) eras. like common sense.
• The Song dynasty was marked by cultural
advancement and military weakness. During
this period, literary output was spectacularly
increased, thanks mainly to the improvement
of printing (invented in the 8th century) and
References:
• https://www.scribd.com/document/412634387/21st-Century-Literature-of-the-Philippines-and-of-the-World-1
• Li, et al. (2023). Chinese Literature. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese-literature
• (1968). Tang’s golden age. Retrieved from: https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20,20,29,35,35,45&post=25909
Page 3 of 4 (China)
7. Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) 10. Modern Era (1912-present)
• Drama and Great Fictional Novels • The national government wanted women to
• Puppet drama continued to entertain the rich have more of an equal status in society, and
dynastic courts in vernacular language. women writers and scholars were taken more
• Dramatic operatic theaters with human seriously.
actors speaking in vernacular language was • There was a lot of politically-oriented literature
a favorite form of entertainment as well, and printed.
some of China’s best dramatic scripts were • Scholars had access to foreign literature, and
many students studied abroad.
written then.
• Until about 1923, there was a New Culture
• Novels were another outstanding
Movement. Writers generally wanted to lead the
achievement of the Yuan era. Two novels are
way in transforming China into a modern
still widely read now and are generally industrialized country and replacing Confucian
considered two of the four greatest novels life-style with a westernized one.
in Chinese literature. These are Water
Margin and The Romance of the Three • Much Chinese literature of the 1920s and 1930s
Kingdoms. both exposed national social problems and
expressed writers' doubts about finding viable
8. Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) solutions to these problems.
• Novels
• The Ming Dynasty was interested in • In 1942 Mao Zedong, in his "Talks at Yenan on
exploration, and Muslims whose ancestors Literature and Art," emphasized to his fellow
arrived during the Yuan Dynasty and who communist revolutionaries that the goal of
were familiar with seagoing trade were literature was neither to reflect the dark side of
employed to make long voyages to the Indian society nor to express the author's own private
Ocean, the Middle East and perhaps Africa. feelings or artistic inspirations.
Then they became isolationist.
• The Journey to the West was written. 11. Literature After 1976
• With the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 came the
official end of the Cultural Revolution period,
9. Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 (The Last
and with it increased freedom for writers. During
Dynasty))
the subsequent decade, Chinese fiction tended
• Novels and Pre-modern Literature
to fall into the following five (necessarily
• The last of China’s four great classic overlapping) categories:
novels was written called Dream of the Red ✓ Literature of the Wounded
Chamber ✓ Humanistic Literature
• At the end of the Qing Dynasty era, the ✓ Social Criticism
dynastic rulers came under increasing ✓ Seeking Roots
pressure both from foreign attacks and ✓ Reportage
internal rebellions. Educated Chinese had
easier access to foreign literature, and they
were more influenced by Western culture.
• Sun Yat-sen led a revolution that marked the
end of Chinese dynasties.
References:
• https://www.scribd.com/document/412634387/21st-Century-Literature-of-the-Philippines-and-of-the-World-1
• Li, et al. (2023). Chinese Literature. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese-literature
• (1968). Tang’s golden age. Retrieved from: https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20,20,29,35,35,45&post=25909
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NOTABLE WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS
References:
• https://www.scribd.com/document/412634387/21st-Century-Literature-of-the-Philippines-and-of-the-World-1
• Li, et al. (2023). Chinese Literature. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese-literature
• (1968). Tang’s golden age. Retrieved from: https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=20,20,29,35,35,45&post=25909
