What are the characteristics of China's literature in past dynasties?

The pre-Qin literature made great achievements and had a far-reaching influence. Oral literature before history, because there is no written record, has not been handed down much, but some of its myths are quite rich. Myth existed long before class society.

It has been passed down from mouth to mouth among the masses, and has become more and more beautiful and full of artistic imagination after continuous revision and supplement. This is the law of the development of oral literature. Poetry is also a kind of oral creation in its initial stage of development, which belongs to the literature and art of the whole society. After 300 pieces of The Book of Songs, the poem that shines brilliantly in the history of China literature is Songs of the South.

Chu Ci is mainly the work of Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet. It is a new poetic style created by him on the basis of learning folk songs. Due to the fundamental changes in society during the Warring States period, the atmosphere of private writing flourished.

2. Literature of Han Dynasty

Literature, Fu and prose in the Han Dynasty were well developed. The concept of the article originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty, mainly referring to Fu and prose. But the achievement of Fu is far lower than that of prose. Fu in the early Han Dynasty was generally imitating Qu Yuan's works, lacking realism and freshness, and could not arouse much interest of readers. The historical prose of Han Dynasty reached a stage of high development. The main symbol is Sima Qian's Historical Records.

Using all the achievements of pre-Qin historiography, the author established a new system with large scale and complete organization, which made China historiography develop to a new stage and made immortal achievements in the history of historiography. The author's spirit of "true beauty without concealing evil" is a direct inheritance and development of the "calligraphy" tradition of pre-Qin historians.

He respects objective facts and has a clear tendency. He not only dared to expose the evils of the ruling class, but also dared to praise the heroes of the peasant uprising, showing materialism and people's thoughts.

3. Literature of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

The most successful aspect of literature in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties is poetry, especially the development of five-character ancient poems. It laid a solid foundation from Jian 'an period, and through the efforts of a series of poets such as Ruan Ji, Zuo Si and Tao Yuanming, not only the number of writers and works increased, but also the artistic expression was constantly improved and the styles were diverse, forming a prosperous period of five-character ancient poetry.

Since the Western Jin Dynasty, because the gentry monopolized the culture, generally speaking, literature was far from people's life, which especially showed the value of Yuefu folk songs in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Although there are a large number of Fu in this period, it has lost its position of ruling the literary world like Han Fu. Under the influence of many lyric poets, lyric poetry developed accordingly.

It gets rid of the extravagant style of great Fu in Han Dynasty, expresses the author's thoughts and feelings in a short space, greatly improves the artistic appeal of Fu, and is a progress in the development of Fu. Prose is the least developed style in this period. Only Wei and Jin prose is natural, fresh and meaningful. Although the number is small, it has its own characteristics and has a certain impact on later generations.

4. Literature of Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty is a glorious era in the history of China literature, with outstanding achievements in poetry, prose and novels. The achievements of poetry are particularly outstanding. There are more poets and works in the Tang Dynasty than in previous generations. More than 2,300 people and nearly 50,000 poems were recorded in The Whole Tang Poetry alone. The content of Tang poetry is also unprecedented.

It reflects the historical development of the Tang Dynasty, and also comprehensively reflects the living conditions and mental outlook of people from all walks of life. Judging from some poems and records in the Tang Dynasty, folk songs in the Tang Dynasty were very developed. Unfortunately, very few have been handed down. But there is no doubt that it had a far-reaching impact on the literati poetry of the Tang Dynasty at that time. For example, Liu Yuxi's famous Zhuzhici is a work that imitates folk songs.

The brilliant achievements of literature in the Tang Dynasty show the great wisdom and creativity of our nation. The literature of the Tang Dynasty not only occupies an extremely important position in the history of China literature. Abroad, it has a great influence on the literature of many neighboring countries in Asia, such as Japan, North Korea and Vietnam.

5. Literature of Song Dynasty

Prose, poetry and ci in Song Dynasty inherited the achievements of Tang and Five Dynasties and continued to develop. Scripts, operas and rap literature have prepared conditions for the prosperity of novels and operas since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. The poetry and prose innovation movement in the Northern Song Dynasty is a literary innovation movement calling for retro.

In the aspect of ancient prose, under the vigorous advocacy of Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi and Su, he inherited the achievements of Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan, and further got rid of the habits of ci writers since the Han and Wei Dynasties, which has always influenced many ancient prose writers in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The ideological content of Song Ci is not as rich as that of Song Ci, but it shows more creativity in art, which has a great influence on later poets like Bitang's five pronouns. With the prosperity of creation, literary theory criticism has also developed.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Chinese Civilization