An Outline of Chinese Literature I

Yuan Xingpei

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781138219403
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315277912
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Different from previous researches weighted toward historical description and individual writer and work, this book establishes a general analytical system and a multi-angled methodology to examine Chinese literature.

Part I
The characteristics of Chinese literature

The study of the characteristics of Chinese literature has an inseparable bond with the overall characteristics of Chinese culture, and necessitates probing deeply into the nature of literature itself. As for the overall characteristics of Chinese culture, the author’s Reflections on the Theory of Chinese Literature summarizes the following five aspects as the contents of Chinese ideological civilization: the theory of Yin and Yang, spiritual culture, respect for virtue and esteem for society, clinging to the middle ground and collective thinking.¹

To investigate the characteristics of Chinese literature it is necessary to pay attention to the special nature of the Chinese language and its writing system, and their influence on Chinese literature. For example: Chinese is not an inflectional language, which means that it does not have a rigid system of changes of form to express changes in meaning. It does not have limitations of time, number, sex or case. The structure of a Chinese sentence relies more on sense than form. Standard Chinese differentiates between four tones. The writing system is not phonetic; each character represents one syllable, and many characters are actually pictographs. It is because the Chinese language and writing system have these characteristics that Chinese the study of Chinese literature can take into account antithetical balance and combinations of tones, and their parallel usage in modern poetry. It is because the Chinese language has these characteristics that words and phrases and images can be linked in a lively way, prepositions and conjunctions can be omitted, and images can be directly assembled in a lively presentation of time and space, subject and object. This gives a spirited effect to literary works, leaving broad scope for the reader’s imagination. This is especially suited to the expression of poetic artistry.²

The characteristics of Chinese literature discussed in this section naturally have much in common with the characteristics of Chinese culture, language and writing. But these two topics are too broad to be dealt with as a whole and will be touched upon in their proper places. This section will focus on promoting discussion and clarification of the characteristics of Chinese literature itself, and will, of course, be helpful for an understanding of the overall characteristics of Chinese literature.

1
Poetry is the mainstream

The main current of the long river of Chinese literature is formed of poetry and ballads. This is discussed from five aspects below:

1. The origin of Chinese poetry and ballads is lost in the mists of time. The earliest collection of poems and ballads in China is the Book of Odes, compiled between the 11th and sixth centuries BC, or some 3,000 years ago. By comparison, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are probably products of the ninth to eighth centuries BC. The Ramayana of ancient India is a product of the third to second centuries BC, and the epic Mahabharata was produced in ancient India after the beginning of the first century BC. All these works were later than China’s Book of Odes.

Following the Book of Odes, many fine poets and fine poetic works appeared. In fact, the excellent tradition of poems and ballads in China has never been interrupted. Two high points of China’s history of poetry and balladeering came in the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) Dynasties. The poetic stage in those years can be aptly described as a “star-studded autumn sky,”³ providing endless beauty. The Complete Tang Poems, compiled in the Kangxi reign period (1662–1723) of the Qing Dynasty, contains 48,900 works by 2,200 poets. The Complete Song Ci Poems, compiled by the modern scholar Tang Guizhang, contains 19,900 works by 1,330 poets. These collections do not exhaust the Tang and Song poetic repertoire by any means, but they give us some idea of how flourishing it was. In fact, the Tang and Song poetic works are a source of great pride to the Chinese people.

Compared to the lengthy tradition of poems and ballads, the novel and the drama in China were tardy bloomers. They joined the long river of literature quite late. In fact, it was not until the Tang Dynasty, in the eighth century, that the novel appeared, in the form of chuan qi, or short stories written in classical language. The drama slowly came to maturity in the period of the Song and Jin (1115–1234) Dynasties, and reached its full flowering in the Yuan Dynasty, in the 13th century, some 1,800 years after the Greek tragicomedy and over 2,000 years after the Book of Odes.

Lyricism is the mainstay of the Chinese poetry and ballad genre. Epic was developed in ancient Greece and India. There were no long epics in the literature of ancient China, which was written in Chinese characters; or at least no tradition of such long epics has been handed down to us.⁴ The poems “The Birth of Ancestors” and “Everlasting” in the Book of Odes indeed have the flavor of national epics, but they are short and concise and do not have the grandeur of the epic. Not only does Chinese literature lack the epic genre, even long narrative poems are rare. “The Peacock Flies Southeast,” written at the end of the Han Dynasty, and the “The Song of Mulan,” which dates from the Northern Dynasties (386–581), are two famous narrative poems of the folk ballad genre. However, they are not long, and their plots are crudely drawn and not fully developed. The works of the Tang poets Du Fu and Bai Juyi and the Qing Dynasty poet Wu Weiye, titled, “Three Officials,” Three Partings,” “The Long Lament,” “Song of the Lute” and “Rondel,” are deeply imbued with lyricism, but the number of such poems is few. The nature of Chinese poetry and ballads can be expressed as “poetic aspiration”⁵ or “poetic expression of destiny.”⁶ The most common subjects of Chinese poems and ballads are expression of one’s innermost feelings and life course, allegorical attacks on the times, praise of the natural scenery, border garrison duty, the wanderer longing for his wife, love and marriage and exchanges of gifts between friends. All these tend to emphasize feelings and aspirations, with little room left for narrative. If we say that poems and ballads are the mainstream of Chinese literature, then lyric poetry is the mainstream of this mainstream, and therefore lyricism itself naturally occupies an important place in Chinese literature.

2. The instructive function of poetry, to which a lot of attention has always been paid in China, is sometimes called the theory of “poetic instruction.” In the Book of Rites * Explanation of the Classics we find, “Confucius said, ‘Upon entering another state, one can easily grasp the level of its education. If its people are gentle and honest one can know that they have been taught the Book of Odes.’” His meaning was that by observing a state’s customs one can know how educated its people are. If they are gentle and honest, then this is because of the instructional function of poetry. It also means that poetry can imbue a person with the gentle and honest nature of a person of humanity. Confucius reminded his disciples of the importance of studying the Book of Odes in the following passage from the Analects * Yang Huo: “Confucius said, ‘My children, why do you not study the Book of Odes? The Odes serve to stimulate the mind. They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation. They teach the art of sociability. They show how to regulate feelings of resentment. From them you learn the more immediate duty of serving one’s father, and the remoter one of serving one’s prince. From them we become largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants.’”⁷ This passage touches on various functions of poetry – the emotional, cognitive and social and psychological easing – as well as its various uses in home and government life. In the Analects * Ji Shi, we read, “He [Confucius] was standing alone once, when I [Kong Li, Confucius’ son] passed below the hall with hasty steps. He said to me: ‘Have you learned the Odes?’ On my replying ‘Not yet,’ he added, ‘If you do not learn the Odes, you will not be fit to converse with.’ I retired and studied the Odes.”⁸ In this instruction to his son, Confucius stresses that a person who has not studied the Book of Odes is not fit to converse with, and, moreover, will never move in the upper echelons of society. Here, Confucius’ emphasis on the function of poetry in teaching the art of rhetoric is connected with the custom during the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC), covering the period when Confucius lived, of reciting poetry on diplomatic occasions to hint at one’s true meaning.

3. The recital of poetry on diplomatic occasions was done to express or hint at one’s meaning when the use of blunt language would have seemed too challenging, or “undiplomatic.” And so we could call this for the time being “poetic and ballad diplomacy.” An instance can be found in the Zuo Zhuan * 13th year of Duke Wen of Lu: Following the severing of the ruler of the State of Zheng’s allegiance to the State of Jin and his paying homage to the king of Chu, the Zheng ruler had second thoughts and wanted to restore his old alliance with Jin. It happened at that time that Duke Wen of Lu had just returned from a visit to Jin. The ruler of Zheng arranged a meeting with him at which he asked Duke Wen to intercede for him with Jin. The exchanges between the two sides were expressed through the medium of poetry. Again, in the Zuo Zhuan * 23rd year of Duke Xi of Lu we find Duke Wen of Jin and Duke Mu of Qin exchanging snatches of verse:

Another day Duke Mu invited Chong Er to a banquet. Hu Yan said to Chong Er: “I am not as accomplished in literary studies as Zhao Cui; let him accompany you.”

At the feast, Chong Er recited the poem “River Water,” to indicate that after he returned to the State of Jin he would follow the wishes of the ruler of Qin.

Duke Mu recited “Six Months” [from the Book of Odes] to express his hope that Chong Er would prove to be a faithful vassal of the king of Zhou when he recovered the throne of Jin.

Zhao Cui exclaimed, “Crown Prince Chong Er has fittingly expressed his appreciation for Duke Mu’s kindness!”

Chong Er descended from the dais upon which he sat to kowtow to Duke Mu, while the latter descended one step to acknowledge the courtesy. Thereupon, Zhao Cui said, “Sire, Crown Prince Chong Er will never dare to refuse to carry out your command to serve the House of Zhou faithfully.”

This anecdote tells how Chong Er, a prince of the State of Jin, was entertained at a banquet by Duke Mu of Qin as he passed through the latter state during his exile. Chong Er and Duke Mu exchanged opinions by means of reciting poetry. In “River Water,” Chong Er used the image of the sea to refer to his host’s court, and the river to refer to himself. In this way, he hints at his subordinate attitude toward the State of Qin. Duke Mu recites “Six Months” from the Book of Odes * Minor Court Hymns, which describes how Yi Jifu assists his ruler, King Xuan of Zhou, on a military expedition. He hinted that upon his return to power in his native state [Jin], Chong Er would prove a staunch supporter of the House of Zhou. In this way, Duke Mu expressed his trust in and support for Chong Er. And so Zhao Cui, who had accompanied Chong Er to the banquet, lost no time reminding the duke of Chong Er’s gratitude, making it quite clear that he understood and approved of the meaning of Duke Mu’s choice of poem. But it seems regrettable that this type of “poetic diplomacy” is found only in ancient China.

4. The importance of poetry can also be shown by the fact that the ability to compose poetry was a necessary condition for entry to an official career during the Tang Dynasty. During that period a “scholar-gentleman” was a person who could write poetry in the shi and fu styles then in vogue. According to research done by Mr. Fu Xuanzong, “It was in the eighth century that shi and fu poetry were included in the requirements for the jinshi degree [the highest level of the civil service examination], and in the Tianbao reign period (742–756) of Tang Emperor Xuanzong the ability to write poetry in these styles became a fixed requirement for a ‘scholar-gentleman.’”⁹ The earliest work in the Complete Tang Poems is by Chen Xilie (?–757), who lived in the early years of the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. It appears under the heading of “Attempts.” Titled, “Provincial Test: Amidst the Opening and Unfolding of White Clouds,” it reads,

Mount Tai’s peak has soared for a thousand years,
The clouds rise on the King of Han’s demise.
They do not make the peaks exotic,
but prefer to shape the wondrous rocks.
Although the autumn rain is timely,
it is difficult to encounter a sage.
Slowly the clouds cover the sky,
Loath to part, the phantom shapes flicker.
The pure light does not linger,
The spiritual gift follows the dragon.
How can I study what the heart itself does not reach?
When east and west both obey their calling?¹⁰

The more famous poem is Qian Qi’s “Provincial Test: The Spirit of the Xiang River Plays a Zither,” which reads,

Good at playing the Yunhe z ither, I often hear,
Is the spirit of Dizi, King Shun’s beloved wife.
The river god Pingyi dances alone to the tune,
But I, a visitor from afar, find it too saddening.
So much so it can even move metal and stone,
Its resonance reaching into the farthest realm.
It has aroused King Shun reposing on Mount Cangwu,
And caused bitter Baizhi plants to emit their fragrance.
The music streams to the Xiang River like flowing water,
And sweeps over the vast Dongting Lake like rueful wind.
Now that the zither’s stopped, its player is still invisible,
Leaving a few mountains standing in verdant tranq...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword to the Chinese edition
• Preface to the Chinese edition
• PART I The characteristics of Chinese literature
• PART II The division of Chinese literature into time periods
• PART III The regional nature of Chinese literature and the geographical distribution of literary figures
• PART IV The categories of Chinese literature
• PART V The allure of Chinese literature: the presence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in Chinese literature
• PART VI The methods and media of the transmission of Chinese literature
• PART VII Appreciation of Chinese literature
• Interim summary
• Afterword to the first Chinese edition
• Afterword to the second Chinese edition
• Index