CHINA

(The Red Dragon)

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 Chinese Dragon
 Monosyllabic language
-each word has one syllable
-limited in nature
-depending on the pitch on how you pronounce the
words.
 Has no Alphabet
-214 Chinese signs (FOUNDATION 0F WRITING and
DRAWING)
 The Chinese Writing is made up of IDEOGRAPHS
-Written from L to R
-In columns from Top to Bottom
EARLY CHINESE LITERATURE
FIVE CLASSICS
 name of the 5 books which served as the
foundation of cultural, political and traditional
life.
1. The Book of Odes
2. The Book of History
3. The Book of Rites
4. The Book of Changes
5. The Spring and the Author Annals
DYNASTIES OF
CHINA
SHANG DYNASTY (1600 B.C)
 religion based belief

Advances of:
-Bronze working
- Decimal System
- 12 month Calendar
- system of writing
CHOU DYNASTY (1000 B.C – 221 B.C)

 longest of all dynasties

 Known as “ HUNDRED SCHOOL PERIOD”

CHIN DYNASTY (221 B.C- 207 B. C)

 unification of China and strengthening of

central government

 Construction of The GREAT WALL OF CHINA

HAN DYNASTY (207 B.C- A.D 200)

 one of the most glorious years of Chinese

History

 Introduction of Buddhism from India

T’ANG DYNASTY ( A.D 619- 960)
 Golden age of Chinese Literature (FINE ARTS
AND LITERATURE)

 Gun powder and Block printing inventions

 4 Greatest Poets lived in this Dynasty:

1. Wang Wei
2. Li- Po
3. To- Fu
4. Po- Chu- I
SUNG DYNASTY (A.D 960- 1279)

 Characterized by delicacy and refinement

although inferior in terms but great In
learning
LATER DYNASTIES ( AD 1260- 1912)

Northern China was overrun by Mongols led

by Genghis Kan

Completed the conquest and establish the

Yuan Dynasty
TRADITION AND CHINESE GOVERNMENT

The emperial rule lasted over 200 years

leading to a pyramid shape hierarchy
government

Chinese poets served in the government

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
CONFUCIANISM
developed from the teachings of the sage
Confucius(551 - 479 B.C.)

collected in the Analects of Confucius

a system of moral, social, political, and

quasi-religious thought

it introduced the Golden Rule

 THE GOLDEN RULE

"Do not impose on others what

you do not wish for yourself."
TAOISM
 written as Daoism
 Lao Tzu
 Tang Dynasty
 Tao Te Ching
 Zhuangzi
LEGALISM
 pragmatic political philosophy
 Shang Yang, Li Si, and Hanfeizi
 set clear strict laws, or deliver harsh
punishment
 jurisprudence
 Fa(law or principle), Shu (method, tactic,
art, or statecraft) and Shi (legitimacy,
power, or charisma).
BUDDHISM
 a religion, a practical philosophy and
arguably a psychology
 Siddhartha Gautama
 introduced to China from India
 The Tripitaka(Pali Canon), Mahayana
Sutras and the Tibetan Book of the Dead
 BUDDHA'S PHILOSOPHY

"I teach only two things, O disciples,

the nature of suffering and the
cessation of suffering."
MOHISM
 it was founded by Mozi (c. 470 - 390 B.C.)

 it promotes universal love with the aim

of mutual benefit

 it is emphasizing pragmatic survival

 Mohist texts were destroyed during the

succeeding Qin Dynasty
ISLAM
 Introduced into China in the 7th century in
Tang Dynasty

 Muhammad

 Allah

 Qurʾān

 1,400 years’ history in the country

CHRISTIANITY
 Jesus Christ

 Bible

 first introduced to China in Tang Dynasty

PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS
THE ANALECTS
THE ANALECTS

“a fragment or extract of literature” / “collection of

teachings
One of the four Confucian texts
Written during the Period of Spring and Autumn
and Warring States Period (ca. 479 BC - 221 BC),
contain fragments of dialogues between the great
Chinese philosopher and his disciples
Foundation of Chinese Education
The Tao Te
(Classic of the Way of Power)
Ching
The Tao Te Ching

Written between 8th and 3rd centuries BC

Present a way of life intended to restore
harmony and tranquility
Consisting of eighty-one short sections in a
poetic style
Chuang Tzu
Chuang Tzu
Philosophical work of Lao Tzu’s most important
disciples, Chuan Tzu
Written in a witty and imaginative style
Consists of fables and anecdotes that teach the
Taoist philosophy and question the principles of
Confucianism.
The fables and anecdotes in this text attempt to
illustrate the delusion of human conceptualisations
and the folly of human moralisation and
discernment.
CHINESE POETRY
Poetry- literary work in which special intensity is given to
the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive
style and rhythm

In China,
- important
- considered poetry an elegant pastime
- voice of the people
- reflects both the temperament of the Chinese people
- shows the characteristics of the Chinese language
Theme
- Chinese poetry is cosmic
- nature

Characteristics
- Chinese poetry is concrete
- impressionist
- symbolistic
- concise
Symbolistic (a forlorn wife who compares herself to a fan
abandoned by its owner when autumn comes)
I tore this silk of the State of Ch'i,
As white and pure as frost and snow.
I cut it to make a fan,
A fan as round as the moon.
It is held close to you,
From its movement comes a light breeze.
But it fears the coming of autumn,
Whose cold wind will blow away the
heat.
Relegated then to the bottom of a chest,
It will soon lose the favor of its master.
Concise (In Front of a Mirror)

Little by little I feel the impuissance of make-up.

Who pities a beauty that withers?
Only the image in my mirror Joins me in tears.
Chinese poetry is profoundly marked by the three principal
currents of Oriental thought: Confucian morality, Taoist
mysticism, and Buddhist annihilism.

Three influences:
- To Confucius, who teaches rites and good manners
- To Lao Tzu, teaches a calm and detached attitude
toward life and its vanity fair
- To Buddhism, life is but sufferings
Exemplary Poets
 Du Fu
- Du Fu or Tu Fu
-one of the greatest realist poets
- loves to read
-he was captured
- poems reflect the hard realities of
war, people dying next to rich rulers,
and primitive rural life
- “Spring Prospect”
Spring Prospect
The nation
Has been destroyed,
Mountains and rivers remain
In the city Spring Prospect (Another version)
It is spring,
Grass and trees grow deep. The nation shattered, mountains and river remain;
Moved the time, city in spring, grass and trees burgeoning.
Flower blooming make me weep. Feeling the times, blossoms draw tears;
Resentful separation hating separation, birds alarm the heart.
Singing birds Beacon fires three months in succession,
Shocked by heart a letter from home worth ten thousand in gold.
The beacon fires of wars White hairs, fewer for the scratching,
Have been lit for three months now soon too few to hold a hairpin up.
Ten thousand gold-pieces
I would give
For a letter from home.

My white head
I have scratched
Till it so sparse
That soon the heatpin
Will not hold.
Li Bai (also known as Li Po)
-loves to write in a free form poetry
(Gu Shi)
- traveled widely and lived in both
Chang An
- described as romantic poet
- “Dong River”
- “Drinking alone with the moon”
Dong River

At yellow Crane Tower

Seeing off Meng-Hau ran
On his way to Yang jou

My old friend
Bids farewell to me
In the west of Yellow Crane tower
Amid april’s mist and flowers
He goes down to Yang- jou
The distant image
Of his lonely sail
Disappear in blue emptiness,
And all I see
Is the Dong river of the sky.
Goodbye at Yellow Crane Tower

It is early spring and the flowers are in bloom, enveloping the place
like a thick mist. Meng Haoran, an old friend, is sailing down the river
to Yangzhou. Li Bai the poet climbs the Yellow Crane Tower to glimpse
his friend's boat, but all he sees is a speck of sail amidst the blue haze
and the Yangzi River flowing into the horizon.
 MengHao- ran
- Tang poet
- failed in politics
- poems are mostly descriptions of his
subsequent life of leisure, or social poems
written to friends.
- “ Spring Sunrise”, Spring dawn/ Spring
Morning
Spring Sunrise

Slumbering in spring ,
Unaware of sunrise
Everywhere around me

In the night
Came sounds of wind and rain
Flowers fell—
I wonder how many?
 Po-Chu- I
- represented the classical tradition in
Chinese Lit, politics, and morality
-public official
-made his verses didactic and satirical
- poems are sturdy and subject
matters are good
- poems reflect the suffering of the
people
Buying Flowers

In the capital, Spring comes late;

The noisy chariots and horses are passing.
They say, it is the time of the Peonies.”
So they come together to buy flowers.
Prices, high and low, may change,
But also it depends on how much you buy,
Hundreds shine bright red.
There is a bouquet white as crystal,
Sheltered by curtains overhead,
And constructed on a bamboo framework
Watered and set in mud.
These are the old colors, but changed.
Every house buy them according to costume,
And nobody thinks wrong of it.
Only an old man from the farm
Coming by chance to the flower market
Lower his head, deeply sighs—
A sigh which no one understands. Over a single posy of deep-
colored flowers
Ten common families might sing
The last and the most important aspect about Chinese
poetry to be considered here is Ching Chieh, which I shall
translate as the poetic world. When Chinese critics talk of
poetry, they never fail to speak of Ching Chieh, which
might also be called "atmosphere" or "universe". The
atmosphere can be light or heavy; the universe can be
familiar, strange or unknown.