Literature is a language art that uses language to create images and reflect social life. It is an important part of culture and has a strong appeal. China's classical literature is a brilliant classic or excellent work in the history of China literature, and it is a remarkable treasure in the world literature treasure house. China's classical literature has many forms of expression, such as poetry, prose, novel, ci, fu and qu. The diversity of styles and artistic expressions makes China's classical literature present a colorful and magnificent picture. For thousands of years, China's traditional culture has nurtured China's classical literature, and China's classical literature has a far-reaching influence on traditional culture.
The Book of Songs and Pre-Qin Prose
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, society changed dramatically. During this period, pre-Qin prose played an important role in the history of China literature. The cultural atmosphere of letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend has promoted the prosperity of literature, ushered in the cultural moderns, especially the theories of Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism and Legalism, and laid the foundation of China's traditional culture.
Chu ci Han fu
Cifu is one of the literary styles in ancient China. Ci is called Chu Ci because it originated in Chu State during the Warring States Period. Fu means to spread the past, characterized by "spreading words" and "straight books" Both of them have the nature of verse and prose, and they are a unique style of half poetry and half prose. The structure is grand, rhetoric is gorgeous, literary talent and sense of rhythm are emphasized, and exaggeration and exposition are often used.
Wei-Jin Literature and Literary Theory in Southern Dynasties
The Yellow Scarf Uprising at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty destroyed the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan, who represented the interests of small and medium-sized landlords, divided the world into three parts. Cao Cao has the greatest power and the highest literary achievements. Jian 'an literature, represented by "Three Caos" and "Seven Scholars of Jian 'an", occupies an important position in the history of ancient literature. The so-called "three Cao" refers to Cao Cao and his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi; The "Seven Scholars" refer to the late Han writers Kong Rong, Chen Lin, RoyceWong, Xu Gan, Ruan Yu, Angelababy and Serina Liu. They are all good at writing and poetry, and they are closely related to Cao Shi and his son. Jian 'an period is an era of "talented people" in the history of China literature. A large number of writers and works appeared and developed various styles, especially poetry, which broke the silence of the Han Dynasty for 400 years. Five-character poems flourished from then on, and seven-character poems also laid the foundation at this time. Literary critics of past dynasties regarded Jian 'an period as the golden age of literature.
Tang Poetry, Song Poetry, Literature and Legendary Novels
The prosperity of literature in the Tang Dynasty is manifested in the all-round development of poetry, prose and legendary novels, as well as the emergence of a large number of writers and masters. The early Tang Dynasty was represented by four outstanding figures: Lu, Luo, Yang Jiong. There are mainly pastoral poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty: represented by Wang Wei and Meng Haoran; Romantic poetry: represented by Li Bai; Realistic poetry: represented by Du Fu; Frontier poems: represented by Gao Shi, Cen Can and Wang Changling. Li He, Bai Juyi and Jia Dao are the representatives of poetry in the middle Tang Dynasty. The late Tang Dynasty was represented by Li Shangyin and Wen. Among the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties, there were two representatives in Tang Dynasty: Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan. Representatives of the legendary novels in Tang Dynasty: Ren Zhuan by Shen Jiji; Away from the Soul by Chen; Li, Liu Yichuan; Bai Xingjian's Biography of Li Wa; Jiang Fang's Biography of Huo Xiaoyu; Yuan Zhen's Biography of Yingying.
The close combination of orthodoxy and literary tradition makes the ancient prose in Song Dynasty truly become a practical style with strong political function. Song Ci is divided into Northern Song Ci and Southern Song Ci. Among them, the genre is divided into: graceful and restrained school: represented by Li Yu, Feng Yansi, Jun Chen, Yan Shu, Yan Daoji, Ouyang Xiu, Liu Yong, Qin Guan, Zhou Bangyan and Li Qingzhao in the Northern Song Dynasty, represented by Jiang Kui, Wang, Shi Dazu and Jie Jiang in the Southern Song Dynasty. Graceful and restrained school is the mainstream of Song Ci. Bold school: Su Shi initiated in the Northern Song Dynasty, Xin Qiji developed in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the turn of the Song Dynasty was very prosperous. The main representatives are Su Shi, He Zhu (Northern Song Dynasty), Xin Qiji, Liu Kezhuang, Zhang, and later Wen Tianxiang in the Southern Song Dynasty. There are also metrical schools: represented by Zhou Bangyan, Jiang Kui, Wang and Shi Dazu; Fog school: Wu Wenying; New schools: Xin Qiji, Liu Kezhuang and Zhang; Jiangpai: Jiang Kui, from Wu Wenying. Among the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties, there were six representatives in Song Dynasty: Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Wang Anshi and Ceng Gong.
In addition, popular literature such as opera and rap also developed rapidly in the Song Dynasty, and gradually formed popular narrative literature represented by storytelling, Zhugongdiao, Zaju, Nanxi and other operas, thus changing the situation that ancient China literature was longer than narrative in expressing emotions, attaching importance to orthodox literature and neglecting popular literature, laying the foundation for the development of novels and operas in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Song and Yuan Drama and Ming and Qing Novels
In China's traditional literary concept, novels are often regarded as gossip; China's traditional opera is regarded as a work that cannot be elegant. Therefore, novels and operas started late, and until the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, some great writers and works appeared one after another. In terms of traditional Chinese operas, such as Dou E Yuan by Guan Hanqing in Yuan Dynasty, Romance of the West Chamber by Wang Shifu, Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu in Ming Dynasty and Peach Blossom Fan by Kong in Qing Dynasty, they are all immortal works. Novels such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, The Journey to the West, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio and The Scholars are all literary treasures. A Dream of Red Mansions is an immortal work, which pushes China literature to a new peak and can be compared with many famous novels in the world.
Although China's ancient literature is developing continuously, it shows the characteristics of abnormal stability and solidification. Compared with western literature, its unity and singleness are quite obvious. This feature is closely related to the historical process of China society. Most of China's literature was produced in the small production soil of feudal society, and almost all of it was developed in a centralized and unified country, emphasizing cultural concepts and strictly controlling them. Therefore, China ancient literature has relatively little contact with foreign literature, and most of the time it is in a closed environment. Except for special historical periods, the relationship with religion is quite sparse in general. This formed the dignified and steady character of China ancient literature. From the second half of19th century to the beginning of 20th century, this character began to break with the great changes in China feudal society. By the middle of Qing Dynasty, most authentic poems in China's ancient literature came to an end because they followed the old art form and lacked new ideological content. After the Opium War, some intellectuals began to realize the economic and cultural weaknesses of their own nation, and an enlightenment school represented by Gong Zizhen and Huang Zunxian appeared in literature. Before and after the Reform Movement of 1898, Liang Qichao, Huang Zunxian and other representatives of bourgeois reformists put forward revolutionary ideas on poetry, literature and novels, demanding "respecting the vernacular and abandoning the classical Chinese", and political novels calling for revolution also emerged one after another, such as Li's The Appearance of Officialdom, Wu Woyao's Strange Bureau Witnessed in Twenty Years, Liu E's Travels of the Old Handicapped, and.
Representative works:
The Book of Songs, Lisao, Jiuge, Jiuzhang, Tian Wen, Jiubian, Zhouyi, Shangshu, Chunqiu, Zuozhuan and Guoyu.
The Analects of Confucius, Laozi, The Warring States Policy, The Book of Rites, Nineteen Ancient Poems, Peacocks Flying Southeast, On Salt and Iron, Hanshu and Historical Records.
The History of the Three Kingdoms, Goddess Fu, Sou Shen Ji, Shi Hua, Wen Xin Diao Long, Yang Chun Bai Xue, Song Ci, Zhao Chuan, Canglang Shi Hua, Gui, Blowing Sword Record, Quan Yuan Sanqu, The West Chamber, and Song Ci.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms The Journey to the West The Water Margin, Romance of the Gods, Biography of Ji Gong, Jin Ping Mei, San Yan Er Pai, Legend of Heroes of Children, Shi Gong Case, Di Gong Case, Bao Gong Case, Gong Peng Case, Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses, Liu Huameng, Pen Huasheng, Art Outline and Drinking Ice. Literature in this period has become a conscious, independent and social-oriented art, taking the change of literary language as a breakthrough (using vernacular instead of classical Chinese), it has carried out comprehensive and profound changes in the form, expression and content of literature, produced new poems, essays, novels and dramas different from traditional literature, introduced and created new genres such as prose poems, reportage and film literature, and strengthened the personality, self-awareness and self-awareness of the creative subject. Paying attention to the people's destiny and the people's national destiny, modern democracy and socialist ideological trend have become the ideological basis of the new literary mainstream. National crisis, intellectuals' road, peasants' sufferings, struggle and liberation, and armed struggle are common themes in his works. Writers and readers have more extensive and cordial exchanges, and also absorbed the nutrition of the new trend of world literature more widely. It is through the nationalization of foreign influences and the modernization of literary traditions that new national literature is created and becomes a conscious member of modern world literature. The literature of this period made brilliant achievements, and a number of world writers such as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo and Mao Dun appeared. Luxun's novels and a large number of essays, such as Diary of a Madman, The True Story of Ah Q and Blessing and Medicine, have created the greatest milestone of modern literature in China. Lu Xun was a great standard-bearer of the New Literature Movement in China, and his works had a far-reaching impact on the people of China.
After the founding of New China, on the one hand, China literature inherited the new literary tradition after the May 4th Movement, on the other hand, it showed the characteristics of the times in the new historical period. He combined with the masses in a wider scope and in a deeper degree, actively demonstrated the revolutionary spirit of the people of China in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle, tried to reflect the new lifestyle of the people of China in the socialist period, and produced a large number of outstanding works with the flavor of the times. After the literary stagnation of the Cultural Revolution, from the late 1970s, China literature took a new turn, a large number of new writers stepped onto the historical stage, the realistic tradition of literature was restored and developed, new artistic forms and methods were explored in many ways, the literary content was deepened to a great extent, and China literature showed a new prosperity. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), due to political and historical reasons, Taiwan Province provincial literature and Hong Kong and Macao literature, as an integral part of China literature, developed relatively independently on another track and contributed to enriching the literary treasure house of the motherland.
It can be roughly divided into four periods
(1) The first period was the period of the Republic of China, that is, before 1949, which was the stage of multiple renaissance of literature.
During the period of the Republic of China, especially since the May 4th Movement, China was invaded by foreign powers, various social thoughts prevailed, foreign cultures impacted traditional cultures, the development of China literature became diversified, and various themes emerged one after another, among which the school of Yuanyang Butterfly, the originator of modern romance novels, appeared at this time. The representative figure of orthodox literature is "Luba Lao Cao". The rise of newspapers in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China provided a good stage for novel creation. Newspapers attract popularity by serializing novels, and novelists earn manuscript fees through newspapers. Almost all famous novelists in modern times started with serializing novels in newspapers, from Zhang Henshui of Yuanyang Butterfly School to Lu Xun and then to Jin Yong of the present age.
(2) The second period is from the founding of the People's Republic to the end of the Cultural Revolution, that is, before 1976, which is the stage of class struggle in literature.
The mainland literature in this period has obvious political tendency. At the same time, the mainland literary youth in this period experienced a major life change. The ups and downs of fate, multi-perspective experience and thinking about value have laid the foundation for the next brilliant period (the life change of Mo Yan, the first Nobel Prize in Literature winner in China, is in this period). In Hong Kong and Taiwan, romance novels and martial arts novels reached their peak in this period, resulting in the Qiong Yao era and Jin Yong era respectively.
(3) The third period is more than 20 years after the reform and opening up, that is, before 2003, which is the stage of literary reflection and transformation.
The mainland literature in this period showed great vitality. After the Cultural Revolution, the opening to the outside world, the ideological emancipation of intellectuals, the reflection on the past, the yearning for the future, and the impact of tradition and the new era made the literary world flourish. Writers after the Cultural Revolution, represented by Mo Yan, Jia Pingwa and Chen, created many classic works during this period. With the literary works and influence of this period, Mo Yan won the first Nobel Prize in Literature in China in 20 12.
(4) The fourth period, from 2003 to now, is the "expressive" network literature stage of literature.
With the popularity of the Internet, the emergence of online literature subverts the traditional writing and communication mode, making the development of small literature more diversified. After 80s and 90s, the new forces began to enter the literary world and showed amazing creative ability. The overall appearance of fantasy novel writers of the martial arts group represented by the starting point and romantic novel writers represented by Jinjiang (four little divas, six little princesses and eight little exquisite) indicates that online novels have become another creative subject besides mainstream literature.
Representative works: Midnight, Ni Huanzhi, A Family of Golden Powder, The Marriage of Crying and Ridiculous, Under the Bodhi Tree of Sansheng, Fu of Kyushu Goddess, Clouds in Beijing, Sinking, Back, Essays on Fate Hall, Four Generations under One Family, Past Events,
Ordinary world, impetuous, red sorghum family, Linjiabao, rural trilogy spring remnant, autumn harvest remnant east, not talking about love, life is like a string, Muslim funeral, stagnant water, teahouse, mourning for the past,
Seven classic works of modern and contemporary love:
1. Muslim funeral (fire) Love and the beautiful things in human nature can transcend religion and race. Although they are often strangled in reality, it is precisely because of the cruelty of reality that they feel more precious. A door, separated by two worlds. When her love comes, her life has begun to end a little. ...
2. "Song of Eternal Sorrow" (Wang Anyi) The spiritual history of Shanghai's urban love, a woman's life-long love and affection, is intertwined by the changes of the times and the rotation of men. Three men washed away her youth, middle age and old age respectively. Everyone left a promise, but everyone left and never came back. The first man who took pictures of her, accompanied her and took care of her all his life didn't get her or her heart. ...
3. "Ordinary World" (Lu Yao) It seems to happen around us, quietly changing our outlook on life, values and love. In this ordinary world, those gorgeous flower of life are quietly opening up without our knowledge. Ordinary world is touching, ordinary things and ordinary love are no longer ordinary as long as we take them seriously and treat them positively. ...
4. "Three castles"-Border Town (Shen Congwen), Besieged City (Qian Zhongshu) and Abandoned Capital (Jia Pingwa)
Border Town: Entrust the pure love of primitive nature to a paradise, a flower in the sun, a beautiful, healthy, natural and human life form. ...
Fortress Besieged: Marriage is like a besieged city. People outside the city want to come in and people in the city want to go out. People who come in can only know in the game, and people who go out can only understand when they are full of ups and downs.
The Forbidden City: Jin Ping Mei in Modern City was banned for 17 years, but it was the only book that the author thought could save the soul. All the characters ended in a tragic ending, except that lonely ancient city was slowly abandoned at the end of the century. ...
5. "White Deer Plain" (Chen) Under the irresistible historical trend, the love and hate of a village and a wheat field. The three women respectively explained three modes: marriage for the sake of marriage, marriage for instinctive love and marriage for noble goals. It can also be seen how hard it is to say that love was born in that era. ...
6. "Hawthorn Tree Love" (Amy) This is a true story. The girl in "Seeds of Love" is a handsome guy in a white shirt standing under a hawthorn tree. As long as you are alive, I am still alive. If you die, then I'm really dead. What kind of feelings treat a person's life as a continuation of his own? Perhaps, pure love needs timely death. ...
7. "Tarim River" (Mu Ran Qian Shan) The Tarim River is a magical long river, full of magic, which makes people swim in the dream river that they don't want to go ashore. There is such a long river in everyone's heart: it has a long history and will never die. It flows with our sadness, joy, dreams and secrets. Looking back suddenly, I inadvertently found that it has gone through thousands of years and experienced vicissitudes of personnel. ...