What are the three stages of the development of ancient books?

China literature occupies an important position in the history of world literature, is an indispensable part of world literature, and has made great contributions to the development of world literature. However, due to various reasons in history, this understanding has not been fully accepted by people so far. Therefore, the author intends to divide world literature and China literature into four historical stages: ancient, medieval, modern and modern, and compare and compare China literature with foreign literature, in an attempt to scientifically and realistically explore the position of China literature in the history of world literature. 1. Ancient China was one of the cradles of world literature. According to a large number of archaeological data and historical records, several large river basins in Asia and Africa are the earliest areas where human beings got rid of ignorance and entered civilized society. The ancient civilizations of the world came into being in the order of Babylon (including Sumerian and Akkadian), Egypt, Iran, India, China, Hebrew and Greece. These countries and regions are the cradles of world civilization and world literature. At this historical stage, the people of China have created advanced material wealth and spiritual wealth, and advanced literature, including myths, essays and poems. Inferred from various signs, there are a considerable number of ancient myths in China (mainly referring to the Han nationality here), and the quality is comparable to the excellent works of other countries; Unfortunately, because there are no special books to record myths systematically, most of the works are not completely preserved. What we can see today is only some fragments recorded by later generations (including Shan Hai Jing, Zuo Zhuan, Mandarin, Chu Ci, Lv Chunqiu, Huai Nan Zi, Historical Records, Search for Ji Shen, Yi Shu Ji, etc.). So, as far as the preserved materials are concerned, China's myth is not as rich as India and Greece, nor as widely influenced by the world as India, Greece and Hebrew, but it is still one of the ancient myths of mankind. In addition, China's ethnic minorities have preserved many ancient myths, which to some extent filled some gaps in China's literary history. China's ancient prose has made great achievements. Shangshu is the symbol of the formation of China's ancient prose. It contains precious historical materials in ancient times, with narrative and lyrical literary nature, and is regarded as one of the oldest monographs on the history of ancient prose in the world. After Shangshu, China's prose developed in two directions, namely, the essays of various schools of thought and historical prose. Hundred schools of thought's essays (such as The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, etc. ) Emphasis on argumentation, literary talent, different styles and diverse styles. Historical prose (such as Zuo Zhuan, Guoyu and Warring States Policy) emphasizes narration and combines the authenticity of historical records, the distinctiveness of ideological tendency and the vividness of language expression, reaching a high artistic level. Although hundred schools of thought's essays and historical essays are not pure literary works, they are of high literary value, and can be listed as the treasures of ancient Chinese literature in the world, together with Indian Brahma, Forest and Upanishads, dialogues of Plato in ancient Greece, Hebrew Bible and Prophets of the Old Testament. China also made great achievements in poetry creation in ancient times. Its representatives are The Book of Songs and Qu Yuan's creation. The Book of Songs is the first collection of poems in China's literary history, which has set a precedent for the development of later generations. In the history of world literature, it is also one of the earliest poems edited by human beings, which can keep pace with the poems in Egypt's Book of the Dead, India's Rigveda Collection and Hebrew's Shameless Sense of the Old Testament. Qu Yuan's Chu Ci is full of passionate feelings and lofty artistic conception. He has many unique creations in the poetic system, expression techniques and language forms, and created a romantic style that contrasts with the realistic spirit of The Book of Songs. Qu Yuan is the first great lyric poet in the history of China literature and one of the great lyric poets in the history of ancient world literature. As far as the achievements of personal poetry creation are concerned, it seems that only Kalimdor in India and Virgil in Rome can match. However, China's ancient poetry seems to emphasize lyricism over narration, so the level of lyric poetry is higher than narrative poetry, which is proved by The Book of Songs and Qu Yuan's creation. In connection with this, it is a pity that the Han nationality in China did not create a large-scale epic for later generations (China's national epic is quite rich, such as the Tibetan biography of King Gesar, the Mongolian biography of Jianger and the Kirgiz's Manas, etc.). , are very famous, "King Gesar Biography" is said to be the longest epic in the world; But these epics came into being later. About related to this, China did not produce real drama literature in ancient times, let alone the prosperity of drama literature like Indian and Greek. To sum up, China's ancient literature has a long history and rich materials, reaching a high level of thought and art, especially in prose and poetry, which has made great contributions to the development of ancient world literature, thus occupying an important position in the history of ancient world literature, and can be juxtaposed with contemporary Indian literature, Hebrew literature and Greek literature. Second, China literature in the Middle Ages was rich and colorful. Considering the whole world history and the development process of world literature, in order to better compare and study China literature and foreign literature (especially western literature) in the Middle Ages, it is necessary to divide the literature in the Middle Ages into two periods with15th century as the boundary. China entered the feudal society earlier than other countries and regions in the world. It is generally believed that other advanced countries in the East entered the feudal society between the second and third centuries and the seventh and eighth centuries, while the feudal era in Europe began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. In the early Middle Ages, China literature took a big step forward on the solid foundation of ancient times, made new progress and breakthroughs, and gained a comprehensive harvest in various literary fields such as prose, poetry, drama and novels, and a series of outstanding writers and works reached the world level emerged. In terms of prose, the first thing to mention is the Historical Records written by Sima Qian, a historian and writer. This masterpiece has created a new era of biographical history centered on biography, and also a new era of historical biographical literature. It is difficult to find a comparable work in the literary history of the Middle Ages. In addition, Historical Records had a great influence on the development of literature, especially prose, after the Han Dynasty, and promoted the progress of China's prose. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, there appeared a new upsurge of prose-"Ancient prose movement", and many prose masters such as Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan and Ouyang Xiu emerged. The achievements of poetry in this period are even more remarkable. In the Jin Dynasty, Tao Yuanming's poems were outstanding. The Tang Dynasty was the golden age of China's classical poetry, and there were many poets. Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi were all world-class great poets. In the Song Dynasty, Song Ci developed and stood side by side with Tang Poetry, which became another peak of China's classical poetry. Su Shi and Xin Qiji are outstanding representatives of Ci in Northern Song Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty respectively. Although Chinese drama started late, it has developed rapidly since the Yuan Dynasty, so later generations often equate Yuanqu with Tang poetry and Song poetry. Drama in Yuan Dynasty was dominated by zaju, among which Guan Hanqing and Wang Shifu were the most prominent. Their creation pushed China's classical drama to the world level. After a long period of brewing, China's novels gradually flourished in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, resulting in Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Shi Naian's Water Margin and other novel masterpieces. In short, in the early Middle Ages, China made outstanding achievements in prose, poetry, drama and novels, which should be one of the best in the world.